2ND MATCH -- ZIMBABWE v INDIA

Mentally the Zimbabweans had been given a wonderful boost by their victory over the Australians, although they were still extremely nervous. They now knew they could compete with anyone. On paper the Australians had looked the strongest side of the tournament barring the West Indies, but Zimbabwe had beaten them.

Before they left, the Zimbabweans saw the Indians as perhaps the weakest link in their group, the team against which they would have the best chance of victory. Having beaten Australia, they now felt ready to beat India as well. They had to guard against overconfidence, remember their lowly position in the cricket world and just work to see where they could go from there. This, according to Andy Pycroft, was the talk after the Australia game, but unfortunately it didn't work out like that, and Zimbabwe played poorly against India. There was still a sense of unreality among the team and they found it difficult to bring them-selves back to the real world; it was a case of the morning after the night before. Dave Ellman-Brown does believe that there was a degree of over-confidence, the players not yet realising the standard of players they really were up against. The difference in the weather conditions and the pitch did not suit them either.

This match was almost like a home game for the Indians, as there is a large Indian community in Leicester, and they turned out in quite large numbers for this match -- not as many as had been expected, though, as the poor weather discouraged many from attending. Their constant vocal support for the Indian team the Zimbabweans found almost intimidating at times. The Zimbabweans were at least familiar with the ground, as they had played the ICC final against Bermuda there the previous year.

On a miserable overcast day, Zimbabwe were put in to bat by India, and all the leading batsmen got a start but failed to build on it. Ali Shah fell first for 8, caught at the wicket going for an expansive drive. The first eight in the order scored at least 8 runs, yet none of them reached 25. All according to Pycroft threw their wickets away, mostly caught in the cover or midwicket area trying to hit the ball over the top. Robin Brown thinks they were also looking for too many four-balls instead of concentrating on working the ball around and keeping the ones and twos coming.

The Indian bowlers managed to get the ball to swing and bounce on a pitch still slightly damp, and there were also several breaks for rain which came when the batsmen were trying to build a stand. The Indians relied mainly on their medium-pacers as they did throughout the tourna-ment, with even Kapil Dev slowing down and concentrating on seaming the ball with accuracy; they bowled line and length on or outside off stump and gave the Zimbabweans very little room to work with. But the Zimba-bweans did not use this as an excuse; they knew they had failed to apply themselves. The Indians dropped a catch or two, but wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani held five, a World Cup record.

Even a total of 200 might have given them a good chance, as Peter Rawson dismissed Sunil Gavaskar early on, caught at slip off the glove, and shortly afterwards Krish Srikkanth. Unfortunately for Zimbabwe he had to leave the field with a strain before completing a fine opening spell. But a stand between Mohinder Amarnath and Sandeep Patil brought about a recovery and India won without too much further difficulty. Robin Brown was much impressed with the batting of Patil, who he thought looked a player or real class, with incredibly good timing. Shah managed to dismiss Ravi Shastri, who scooped a catch to mid-on in trying to turn a leg-cutter to midwicket, just before the match was completed. For Zimbabwe this was an eminently forgettable game. One benefit, perhaps, according to Brown, was that they learnt they had to bowl on one side of the wicket.

Off the field the Zimbabweans found the Indians the most difficult team to get to know socially. They had a great following in England from the thousands of Indians who had settled there, and after the matches they tended to get into their bus as quickly as possible and disappear. Many of them seemed somewhat aloof and showed little interest in signing autographs or mixing with the public or the oppo-sition off the field. Stars of the team were impossible for even the opposition to get close to off the field. Even Ali Shah, with his Indian roots, found it difficult to make contact with them, and feels that many of them showed insufficient interest in putting back into the game what they had got out of it.

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