Indians would do well in not taking Zimbabwe lightly
On past record and present form, the two crucial criteria on the eveof any contest, it is tempting to place Zimbabwe as no-hopers in thefive-match one-day series against India. But in reality, the scenariois not as simple as that.
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Even Indian coach John Wright conceded that the absence of Tendulkarand Sehwag will be felt, although he is hoping to build on theconfidence that the Indians would have gained after winning bothTests. While expressing the view that India will win the series,Wright admitted that Zimbabwe are a better limited-overs side than aTest team. |
It is true that Zimbabwe lost all three one-day games in 1992-93 andwent down by four matches to one on the next tour of this country just15 months ago. Also, India got the better of New Zealand and SouthAfrica at home during the 1999-2000 season and lost only to worldchampions Australia by one match a year ago in a stirring contest thatwent down to the wire. The squared verdict against England a few weeksago is neither here nor there.India’s dominance at home is not as pronounced in the one-day game asit is in Test cricket. But the track record is still very impressive.But India would do well to not take the Zimbabweans too lightly. Onlylast year, they won home and away contests against New Zealand.Although their steadily improving record was tarnished by 3-0 and 5-0defeats to South Africa and England at home earlier this season, it isobvious that Zimbabwe are not the team that once had an unenviablerecord of having lost seven out of eight games played in two bilateralcontests in this country.Having acclimatised themselves to Indian conditions and after sizingup the opposition even if limited-overs cricket is different fromthe longer version of the game the Zimbabweans will fancy theirchances of challenging the home side. But the fact is that the Indianshave been considerably weakened by the non-availability, due tovarious reasons, of Javagal Srinath, Sachin Tendulkar and VirenderSehwag.The withdrawal of these key players immediately throws doubt over thetop order, the middle order and the opening bowling. Zimbabwe’sexperienced all-rounder Heath Streak has been quick and accurate inhis assessment of the situation. He feels the absence of Tendulkar andSehwag will greatly reduce the firepower of the Indians and “we hopeto cash in on that.” That is a true professional speaking.Even Indian coach John Wright conceded that the absence of Tendulkarand Sehwag will be felt, although he is hoping to build on theconfidence that the Indians would have gained after winning bothTests. While expressing the view that India will win the series,Wright admitted that Zimbabwe are a better limited-overs side than aTest team. Whatever their batting and bowling limitations ascompared to the Indians on paper they proved in the Test matchesthat they were far superior in fielding, and this aspect gains inimportance in the one-day game.Zimbabwe’s batting will again revolve around the Flower brothers, theexperienced Alistair Campbell, skipper Stuart Carlisle, Craig Wishart,the solid Dion Ebrahim and Douglas Marillier. Streak of course can bedepended on to strike a few lusty blows in the end overs, and theburly, experienced all-rounder will also spearhead the bowling attack,manned by Travis Friend, Gary Brent and Pommie Mbangwa.For India, Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan will be in charge of the newball in the absence of Srinath, while Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singhwill complete the quartet of main bowlers. Sanjay Bangar and SouravGanguly, as back-up bowlers, look pretty modest, and it is here thatthe absence of Tendulkar and Sehwag will be felt, for the two, besidestheir expertise with the bat, can always be counted upon to eitherrestrict the scoring or break a troublesome partnership. Thus theresponsibilities on the four main bowlers will be that much greater.While the non-availability of Tendulkar and Sehwag will obviously befelt, the batting still looks quite strong. A line up of Ganguly,Bangar, Dinesh Mongia, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Kaif andAgarkar does inspire confidence. I have never been happy with theselection of Shiv Sunder Das for the one-day squad. He is blessed witha technique ideally suited to Test cricket, and it would be better ifthis precious gift were restricted to the longer game instead of theslam-bang variety. In the long run, the exposure to limited-overscricket might harm his technique, and Indian cricket certainly can dowithout such damage. Ajay Ratra, on the other hand, is a welcomechoice, and it is to be hoped that he grabs this opportunity with bothgloves and cements his place in the squad.