Delhi Test, Day 1, Lunch
Thursday, February 28, 2002

It was heartening to see, in the morning today, the amount of work the Delhi District Cricket Association had put into the playing conditions. The outfield had been watered regularly and was lush green, with a generous cover of grass on it. Strangely though, they didn't seem to have paid the same attention to the pitch, which fell way short of expectations. It was a dry, rough surface, and had none of the smoothness and sheen that one normally associates with a first-day Kotla pitch.

In other words, it's just the kind of pitch tailormade for an Indian win. It will deteriorate rapidly, the ball will keep low and the spinners will have a field day. Which is sad, because it reverses a trend we have seen in India in the last four years whereby visitors have, by and large, got sporting pitches to play on which offers them a fair chance, and have enough bounce to prepare Indian batsmen for sterner tests overseas. Befuddling, this attitude of the DDCA: Nurture for the outfield, neglect for the pitch.

It was nice to see Zaheer Khan bowl with a lot of fire today, and he appears to have regained the rhythm of old. Interestingly, one got to see a fair amount of seam movement off the pitch, and Sourav Ganguly did the right thing by giving the opening bowlers a longer spell than usual. The seam got a good grip from the hard soil, though the pacers will certainly have less assistance as the day goes on and the ball softens.

Ganguly was also quick to realize that Zaheer was bowling much better than Javagal Srinath, and he acted wisely by bringing him on for a second spell before lunch. Zaheer repaid his faith by picking up his second wicket.

Anil Kumble got into a rhythm quickly, and things look bleak for Zimbabwe. Andy Flower has not been in the best of form recently, but he has fantastic temperament, and if he can hang in there and get his confidence back, he'll be a force to reckon with – irrespective of the conditions, or the pitch, or the bowlers.

Sanjay Manjrekar, stalwart of the Indian batting in the early `90s, was talking to Amit Varma.

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