Indians greet Wright with sound welcome gift
Ganguly and his boys have given a good welcome gift to their new coach, John Wright, by winning the Test match at the Feroz Shah Kotla
Woorkheri Raman
24-Nov-2000
Ganguly and his boys have given a good welcome gift to their new
coach, John Wright, by winning the Test match at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
It was the second successive victory for Ganguly's gang and the
pattern was almost the same both in Bangladesh and the Kotla. It is
not often a side ends up losing a Test match after notching up 400
plus in the first innings. While one can attribute the reversal in
Bangladesh to the latter's inexperience, the Zimbabweans made the
Indians work hard for their victory.
The Indians made a strong reply in the first innings, which was set up
by the dashing Dravid along with Tendulkar. Dravid carried on to
remain unbeaten in the first and also the second innings as well. The
remarkable aspect of his double hundred was the way he paced his
innings. He saw Tendulkar take total charge when the second new ball
was taken, smashing the ball with effortless majesty. Tendulkar's
departure brought Ganguly out in the middle but he found the going
difficult as it was not easy playing shots when the ball was old.
Dravid not only tied one end up but he also ensured that the visitors
could not put the brakes on the Indian scoring rate. Ganguly had to
declare at some point of time to try and enforce a victory on the
final day. The general consensus was that the Indian captain would
carry on until he had a lead of 150 runs. This is where Ganguly
surprised everyone with his early declaration but to me it appeared
that sound logical thought brought about the "surprise declaration".
Ganguly must have realised that he had only four bowlers and also that
if they had to score quick runs in the final session of the match,
then he could fancy the team's chances.
Though the declaration may have been a product of good thinking, it
was Srinath who set the game up for the Indians on the fourth evening.
He made early inroads into the Zimbabwe batting line up and they
hardly recovered. Srinath deservedly was adjudged as the man of the
match and it was a pleasure to see a fast bowler succeeding on a pitch
devoid of pace. It was the length he bowled which was instrumental for
his haul of wickets. Agarkar bowled well in patches but the spinners
were thoroughly disappointing in both the innings.
Andy Flower would like to roll out the pitch in New Delhi and carry it
along with him as he has got great knocks for his side at this venue.
He tried his best to stand between India and victory but unfortunately
none of his team mates could measure upto Flower's resolve and
determination. Whittall played a shocking shot in the dying moments on
the fourth day, which proved to be the turning point. He is capable of
playing big knocks and his side needs his contributions badly. The top
order of the visiting team is not faring as well as required and until
they provide a good start it will be an uphill task for Zimbabwe in
the Test matches.
Ganguly must be inwardly having the laugh of his time as his team once
again rallied back to win a Test after being virtually piled up
against a wall in the first half of the match. His decision of playing
four bowlers was debated with some fervour but the end result has gone
in Ganguly's favour. The close-in catching of the Indians has to be
improved and they were fortunate enough to get away after dropping a
fair number of catches. I am sure Wright would have worked out the
areas his boys have to work on and hopefully the catching would be far
better in Nagpur.