The Wisden Verdict
by Sanjay Manjrekar
Sunday, March 10, 2002

India could not have asked for a better venue for this crucial match. The pitch was a belter, the facilities were excellent, and Mohali got the high-scoring match it deserved.

It was quite apparent that Zimbabwe's bowlers got carried away by the bounce on the surface. They repeatedly tried to test both openers with short deliveries, but Sourav Ganguly and Dinesh Mongia counter-attacked superbly. It was a wicket perfectly suited for Ganguly's style of batting in one-day matches – with just the right pace and bounce - and he exploited it to the full.

But more than the opening, what was impressive today was India's batting through the middle overs. India have often failed to capitalise on a good start, but VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid ensured that there were no mid-innings stutters this time round.

Laxman went soon after his 50, but Dravid played a crucial knock. It was sensible, mature cricket, and with Harbhajan Singh providing the fireworks in the end, India reached a total that was always going to be beyond Zimbabwe.

But this Zimbabwe outfit shows a newfound confidence in their abilities, and when they came out, they backed themselves to get the runs. The pitch seemed to get even better under the lights, and the dew made the ball harder to grip.

Alistair Campbell and Travis Friend made full use of the favourable conditions to tonk the bowlers around. Friend showed admirable spirit to come back after his disastrous spell with the ball earlier in the day.

However, in Harbhajan, India had the man for the moment. He once again showed how important he was to the Indian line-up. In conditions that were completely in favour of the batsmen, he came in and immediately threatened to take wickets. The two deliveries that got rid of Friend and Campbell were beauties, and they absolutely turned the match around. After those two well-set batsmen left, Zimbabwe were never in the game. Harbhajan was definitely my Man of the Match.

The only concern for India was the way their bowlers responded when Friend was attacking them. Some of the less experienced bowlers looked a little lost, and this is one area John Wright will have to address.

Ganguly's fielding was below par again. He had gone public before the match saying that he had a dodgy knee and was playing only because some of the senior players were missing from this line-up. However, I'm not sure how much of his performance could be attributed to his injured knee.

The fact is, Ganguly's fitness has been steadily slipping, dodgy knee or not, but not once have I seen him put in an extra effort to improve this aspect of his cricket. I find that quite strange.

Importantly for India, though, they pulled it back after the disaster at Faridabad. Things should get better for them through the rest of the series.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of Indian batting in the 90's, was talking to S Rajesh.

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