Srinath basks in glory as India make it two-in-a-row

Srinath basks in glory as India make it two-in-a-row
Vikrant Gupta

New Delhi, November 22: It was about the scoreboard, the clock, the Superman and an Indian umpire. As minutes ticked away and Zimbabwe not willing to blink with quite a few catches going down as well, the Indian hearts were skipping faster than the traffic outside the Kotla. The Zimbabwean scoreboard did not stop and, as the numbers kept piling on, you knew India had to battle not only the target but also the time.

The Battle of Time was slipping away from India's grasp.

One more over, please, the crowd was literally begging of the Indian Superman, the one and only Javagal Srinath. Srinath, a curse ready for his butter-fingered fielders, willed his aching shoulders to give it a last try. He had been India's only hope. Can he do it now? And, pretty fast?

Then, there was umpire Srinivas Venkatraghavan. He was an Indian, but erred because he was like all human beings, fallible. Probably, something disturbed his vision as 199 times out of 200, he would have given the Zimbabwe No 11 Henry Olonga not out. Today, he agreed with Srinath. Even though he had bowled that inswinging delivery from so wide off the crease that it would have only hit the fifth or sixth stump down the legside if Olonga's pads had not come in between.

The Zimbabwean was shocked. The Indians, pleasantly surprised, were grinning from ear to ear. The die was cast. In about 47 overs, India were to make 190 runs to win the Test on the final day. Barely had the afternoon sun gone down, the Indian hurrah could have brought the stadium down. They won the first Test by seven wickets.

Some hoped Sachin Tendulkar might be sent to open the Indian second innings, as he does so well in one-dayers, to get India a quick start. Ironically, Tendulkar only batted at No 4 but was in much before the Zimbabwe medium pacers could break into a sweat. He did what was required of him, the first-innings double-centurion Rahul Dravid ensured he wasn't dismissed even once in the Test milking the bowling at the same time and skipper Saurav Ganguly just blasted his way, hitting sixers and fours to hasten the Zimbabwe end.

If the victory was face saving for Ganguly -- well, the mystery over the missing fifth bowler is not over yet -- it was a personal reward for Srinath. On a wicket as placid as it was at the Kotla on the first three days, Srinath's four-wicket haul saved India from embarrassment. On the fourth and fifth days, Srinath's seamers did the magic on a spinning track.

It was a repeat of the Dhaka Test against Bangladesh. India allowed Zimbabwe to score 422 before declaring. But, as it happened at Dhaka, though not entirely that well, Indian bowlers did an encore in the second innings. So, after the win against Bangladesh, comes this one over Zimbabwe, making it two-in-a-row for Ganguly, the latest Indian skipper. "A Test win is a Test win. It doesn't matter who the opponents are, you have to beat them to win the match. Don't you?"

Srinath had claimed three wickets yesterday and added two, including one courtesy Venkat, this morning. Figures of five for 60 don't speak of Srinath's value to the team. Of course, he would wish the slips cordon to be more alert than the present one. Ganguly alone dropped four catches in slips in the match while wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya and Sunil Joshi had a blemish each.

"I was a bit rusty at Dhaka but got my rythm back here," he said. Srinath, obviously cutting down on pace, has been bowling length, making the ball swing and cut. "On wickets like these, you should know how to get wickets. I have bowled for most of my nine years in international cricket on such wickets. So, the value of length has not been lost."

Ganguly is happy India won but he minced no words in describing the Kotla pitch. "I was not happy with the wicket here, it was a flat track for most of the time. I had told them (groundsmen) I wanted a turning track but didn't get one," he was said. And will he get that in the next Test at Nagpur? "I don't know. I will tell them. But frankly, I am not sure whether I will get a wicket of my choice."

India are 1-0 up in the two-Test series. The Nagpur Test starts on November 25.

ZIMBABWE (Ist innings) 422 for nine declared
INDIA (Ist innings) 458 for four decl

ZIMBABWE (2nd innings)
Grant Flower c Dahiya b Srinath (3m, 2b) 0
Gavin Rennie c Ganguly b Srinath (24m, 12b) 0
Stuart Carlisle c Ganguly b Joshi (68m, 49b, 4x4, 1x6) 32
Alistair Campbell c Dravid b Srinath (18m, 7b, 1x4) 8
Andy Flower lbw Agarkar (200m, 134b, 12x4, 1x6) 70
Guy Whittal c Ramesh b Kartik (71m, 49b, 3x4) 29
Brian Murphy c Dahiya b Srinath (46m, 42b, 1x4) 6
Heath Streak lbw Kartik (55m, 46b, 4x4) 26
Paul Strang not out (111m, 85b, 2x4) 14
Bryan Strang c Tendulkar b Joshi (50m, 32b, 2x4) 15
Henry Olonga lbw Srinath (28m, 23b, 2x4) 10
Extras: (b4, nb1, w1, lb9) 15
Total: (allout in 80.1 overs, 339 mins) 225
Fall of wickets:1-0 (G Flower), 2-15 (Rennie), 3-25 (Campbell), 4-109 (G Whittal), 5-109 (G Whittal), 6-144 (Murphy), 7-171 (A Flower), 8-181 (Streak), 8-213 (B Strang)

Bowling
Javagal Srinath 24.1-5-60-5
Ajit Agarkar 16-4-48-1
Sunil Joshi 25-7-68-2
Sachin Tendulkar 4-1-10-0
Murli Kartik 11-2-26-1

INDIA (2nd innings) (Need 190 to win in 47 overs)
Shiv Sundar Das run out (15m, 4b) 4
Sadagoppan Ramesh c R Strang b Streak (5m, 2b) 0
Rahul Dravid not out (152m, 91b, 8x4) 70
Sachin Tendulkar c Murphy b P Strang (45m, 39b, 8x4) 39
Saurav Ganguly not out (5m, 90b, 7x4, 3x6) 65
Extras: (b9, lb1, nb1, w1) 12
Total: (for three wkts, 37.3 overs, 159 mins) 190
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Ramesh), 2-15 (Das), 3-80 (Tendulkar)

Bowling
Heath Streak 5-2-18-1
Bryan Strang 3-0-20-0
Henry Olonga 6-0-26-0
Brian Murphy 11-0-56-0
Paul Strang 4.2-0-26-1
Grant Flower 1.4-0-10-0
Gavin Rennie 3.3-0-19-0
Alistair Campbell 3-1-5-0