Close India (354 and 126 for 6; Tendulkar 42, Price 2-24) beat Zimbabwe (329 and 146; G Flower 49, Harbhajan 6-62, Kumble 4-58) by four wickets
scorecard

India started their run-chase well today, and finished it off in style – Harbhajan Singh thumping Heath Streak over his head for six – but in between, Zimbabwe fought back strongly, and with some luck, could have squared the series. Ultimately, India managed a 2-0 series win, with Harbhajan being declared Man of the Match for his match figures of 8 for 132, and Anil Kumble Man of the Series for his 16 wickets at 18.12.

The tension at the Kotla had reached fever pitch when India lost Sachin Tendulkar, SS Das and Rahul Dravid in a 12-run period, with 14 runs still left to win. Zimbabwe were in with a chance, and they gave it their all. Streak had a confident lbw shout turned down by umpire Asoka de Silva. The ball had struck Harbhajan in front of off stump and would probably have struck middle. To rub it in for Zimbabwe, the ball ran away to third man for four leg byes. The target was down to 10 runs.

From the other end, Ray Price kept up the pressure, rapping Sanjay Bangar twice on the pads. In Streak's next over, Zimbabwe missed a run-out opportunity, when Travis Friend's throw missed the stumps with Bangar well out of his ground. Worse, there was no fielder backing up, and the ball raced away for four overthrows. India now needed only six.

Harbhajan then chanced his arm, and almost scooped a catch to cover. But luckily for him, the ball went over the fielder for four, bringing down the runs required to two. And then came the six, the second time that Harbhajan had seen India home in a close run-chase – the first was famously against Australia at Chennai last year.

At one point, though, with the score on 93 for 3, and Tendulkar going strong, an Indian win appeared a formality. Forty-nine runs came in the first hour, 36 of them off Tendulkar's bat, as the pitch seemed to hold none of the terrors expected of a wearing, fifth-day track. He got off the blocks by taking 14 runs off two overs from Grant Flower. A clever dab to midwicket fetched two. He then let the magic flow – a fluent cover-drive raced to the fence, and when Grant Flower over-compensated by pitching slightly short, Tendulkar rocked back and unleashed a fierce square-cut for four more.

Meanwhile, Das played the ideal foil, defending well and keeping India's main threat, Price, at bay. He didn't miss out on the scoring opportunities either: a half-volley on leg stump was driven inside-out through cover for four.

But Price, who had been denied a shot at Tendulkar through the first 12 overs of the morning, had other ideas. Changing ends, he needed a mere four balls to get his man – Tendulkar, on 42, went for a sweep, was hit on the pad in front of off stump, and umpire Jayaprakash took an inordinately long time to lift his finger (93 for 4).

That opened the floodgates for Zimbabwe. de Silva, who had been impressive in the first three innings of this match, handed down his second shocker of this innings, declaring Das lbw off Streak for 31 when the ball seemed to be heading down the leg side (103 for 5).

It soon became 105 for 6 when Dravid edged Price to Andy Flower at gully for 6. With 17 runs still needed, and Virender Sehwag expected to bat only in an emergency, Zimbabwe sniffed at an improbable win.

Luckily for India, Harbhajan clunked that six.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com India

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