``I feel the third day's play was crucial to our fortunes. Unfortunately, we bowled too short and gave them too many easy runs,'' continued Gaekwad. On this day, India had taken a 59-run lead but the bowlers were off target and allowed Zimbabwe to raise 138 runs for the first wicket.

``Instead of looking to contain them, we were trying to take wickets and that upset our plans,'' Gaekwad said.

A visibly upset skipper Mohd Azharuddin said it was a ``collective'' failure adding ``it does not augur well for the team for the coming months.''

``They (Zimbabwe) were leading us by 160 runs and we went back to the hotel and had an extended time among ourselves to sort out the problem,'' said Gaekwad. ``It worked with the bowlers for we got them out for 293 but then our batsmen faltered.

``Ouropeners failed in this match and in second innings, most of our batsmen were irresponsible,'' he added.

Is it right to ask Nayan Mongia to open all the time, could not one of the middle-order batsmen be asked to move up in front?

``It is not right to unsettle your middle order and ask one of them to open the innings,'' said Gaekwad. ``Anyway, Nayan has been opening on and off, and we decided to stick with the Sidhu-Mongia combination.''

Could it be that India is depending too heavily on Sachin Tendulkar to win international matches?

``I don't think so. If Tendulkar was weighing so heavily on our batsmen's mind than Rahul (Dravid) and Saurav (Ganguly) would not have batted in such assured manner as they did on the final afternoon,'' Gaekwad said.

Gaekwad said there was nothing wrong with the pitch. ``It was excellent for batting all through.''

Azhar agreed that the poor start did affect the rest of the innings:``We did not get a good start and it was critical. A good start, most of the times, makesthe difference. Unfortunately, it was not the case,'' Azhar said.

``We kept losing wickets regularly and our batsmen did not play responsibly. We were inconsistent in every department of the game. On all the days, we did not play well.''

On his own batting in the match, which saw him perish twice in slips playing strokes, Azhar said: ``You play shots to score runs and that's way I tried to do.''

On umpiring, the Indians preferred to leave it to ``your good judgment'' instead of complaining in public about the inconsistency by the umpires, especially Ian Robinson.

Neil Johnson, who made a memorable debut in the Test by claiming Tendulkar in both the innings, did not think Dravid was out. ``I don't think he touched the ball,'' said Johnson.

Dravid, India's last hope and batting on 44, was given out when a Mpulemolo Mbangwa delivery brushed his pads and went to the wicket-keeper on the legside. Even as Dravid indicated his pads, umpire Robinson gave him out.Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton agreed withGaekwad's assessment and said India had no business to give as many runs as they did on the third day.

``Imagine, we being one down for 200 on the third afternoon,'' he said. ``It was poor bowling on the part of Indian bowlers.''

``They kept bowling short and paid the penalty,'' said Houghton. ``In contrast, the bowlers of both the teams pitched it up on the final day and reaped huge rewards.''