Close India (354 and 36 for 3) need 86 more runs to beat Zimbabwe (329 and 146; G Flower 49, Harbhajan 6-62, Kumble 4-58)
scorecard

An eventful day's play went mostly India's way, but Zimbabwe clawed back three late wickets to entertain hopes of an upset win. In all 17 wickets went down for 217 runs on a fourth day when the spinners held sway – they accounted for 14 of those wickets.

Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble turned in another classy exhibition of spin bowling on a wearing pitch. When Harbhajan came on to bowl – as early as the sixth over of the second innings – Zimbabwe were just seven runs away from wiping off the first-innings deficit, with all ten wickets in hand. But by the time Harbhajan and Kumble had finished with them, Zimbabwe had lost 10 wickets for 128 runs, setting up what seemed to be a comfortable win for India.

India weren't quite home yet, though. Deep Dasgupta was run out for 1 by a brilliant piece of work by his counterpart, Tatenda Taibu (3 for 1). Taibu leapt high to gather a throw from Heath Streak, and then flung the ball at the stumps with both his feet still off the ground.

Grant Flower then took two wickets in two balls. First Sourav Ganguly was trapped in front for 20 (36 for 2), then Asoka de Silva, the Sri Lankan umpire, handed out a shocker, ruling nightwatchman Kumble caught by Trevor Gripper at short leg, when the ball had missed the bat by a long way. It all set up an intriguing final day's play.

On a pitch which had dry patches and cracks all over it, all the spinners extracted considerable turn and disconcerting bounce.

The signs were ominous for Zimbabwe as soon as Harbhajan came on. Gripper came down the pitch to negotiate the turn, but the ball spun, clipped his pad and glove, and flew to Rahul Dravid at slip. The fielder threw the ball up, and all the close-in fielders appealed. Though umpire de Silva raised his finger, the replays clearly showed that Dravid had taken the ball on the half-volley (23 for 1).

Then Harbhajan snared both Alistair Campbell and Andy Flower in his fourth over. Campbell nicked one that turned and bounced to Dravid at slip for 2 (31 for 2), while Andy Flower departed at the same score four balls later, inside-edging to Shiv Sunder Das at short leg.

The procession continued after lunch. Stuart Carlisle had made 37 and had added 38 with Dion Ebrahim - the highest partnership of Zimbabwe's second innings – when he miscued a drive off a flighted delivery, and Harbhajan hung on for the first caught-and-bowled of his Test career (69 for 4).

Kumble had the misfortune of having a couple of catches go down off his bowling – Das at short leg and untidy keeper Dasgupta grassed chances off Ebrahim and Grant Flower – but he wasn't to be denied for long. He trapped Ebrahim in front for 22, shouldering arms to one that came in after pitching (95 for 5), and then trapped Heath Streak in front for 9 (113 for 6).

Travis Friend had frustrated India earlier in the series, but this time he lasted only six balls before Harbhajan gated him with a superb offbreak (114 for 7).

Taibu shaped well for 10, but was done in by the bounce, edging Kumble to Sanjay Bangar in the gully (129 for 8). The ninth wicket went down shortly after tea, when Ray Price was snapped up by Das at short leg for 3 (142 for 9). Last to go was Grant Flower, who had resisted bravely, mixing excellent defensive technique with some bold strokes, but he fell just one short of his half-century, holing out to Harbhajan off Kumble.

Earlier, Price and Streak picked up a couple of wickets apiece, as the Indian first innings folded up for 354 – a slender lead of 25. Sourav Ganguly's long vigil ended in the first over of the day, when he tried to sweep one from Price which bounced more than expected, and gloved a catch to Gripper (321 for 7). Ganguly had only added a single to his overnight 135.

Five overs later, Javagal Srinath departed, caught at silly point by Gripper as he lunged forward to one that pitched on middle stump and straightened. Replays indicated that the ball had missed the bat, and gone straight off the pad.

Streak then finished it off, trapping Harbhajan in front for 9 with an in-dipper, and then bowling Zaheer Khan for 8, to finish with 4 for 92.

Teams
India 1 Shiv Sunder Das, 2 Deep Dasgupta (wk), 3 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Rahul Dravid, 6 Virender Sehwag, 7 Sanjay Bangar, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Javagal Srinath.
Zimbabwe 1 Stuart Carlisle (capt), 2 Trevor Gripper, 3 Alistair Campbell, 4 Andy Flower, 5 Dion Ebrahim, 6 Grant Flower, 7 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 8 Heath Streak, 9 Travis Friend, 10 Ray Price, 11 Brighton Watambwa.

S Rajesh is a sub editor with Wisden.com India.

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