da brdice： It was a long day for scribes and spectators alike at the Nehru Stadiumin Indore
Anand Vasu10-Nov-2000It was a long day for scribes and spectators alike at the Nehru Stadiumin Indore. The visiting Zimbabweans did not think it necessary to make asporting declaration and thereby a match of this game. A complete farceensued, one in which the Zimbabwe batsmen carried out net practicein the middle. Earlier in the day, National Cricket Academy skipperReetinder Sodhi was hopeful of an early declaration by the Zimbabweans. He said the NCA team would go after the target, even if the asking rate was around six runs per over. As it turned out, all that was unnecessary.India also have an irritating habit of bringing batsmen out of a leanpatch. Trevor Madondo certainly benefited from this brand ofhospitality. After playing a shaky knock in the first innings, Madondogot his eye in well in his second essay. Stroking the ball around thepark, Madondo had a good look at a subcontinent wicket. He made 65before playing all over a straight ball from Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan.Having lost out in the first innings, Andy Flower came in next and hedisplayed what a class player he is. Never in any trouble, Flower workedthe ball into the gaps with ease. After making 119 runs, (180balls, 14 fours) he decided that he had had enough of the Indore heat.Retiring ill, he returned to the comfort of the pavilion and wasreplaced by acting skipper Guy Whittall.Stuart Carlisle (39) and Guy Whittall (36 not out) gained a bit ofexperience batting in Indian conditions. Just when it looked likeZimbabwe would quietly play out the day, they surprised everyone bydeclaring their innings closed at 320/5. This left NCA with a hugelyimprobable, and almost statistically impossible, target of 320 off 11overs. Sridharan Sriram was obviously quite content with his knock inthe first innings. In his place, stumper Ajay Ratra opened the inningswith Nikhil Doru.Although Ratra was trapped leg before by Henry Olonga it was really ofno consequence. Gautam Gambhir worked the bowling around for an elegant22 runs while Doru managed 12 not out. NCA had 42/1 and the match endedin a dull draw.After the NCA lads had declared their innings having secured a lead ofjust 1 run, one expected Zimbabwe to think on similar lines. Althoughthat would have made for maximum viewing pleasure, one really cannotfault the Zimbabweans for their tactics. They are not here to give theNCA boys a shot at victory against an international side. They are herefor the far more serious business of winning a Test series againstIndia. They did all they could to prepare themselves for the same.Speaking to scribes after the game, acting skipper Guy Whittall said,”We batted almost the whole day because we wanted to shift from theOne-Day mode to the Test mode. The Test matches here are the highestpriority for us and we wanted to prepare as well as we could for that.”When asked why he declared when he did, leaving the NCA boys elevenovers to face, he added, “Henry Olonga didn’t get much of a bowl in thefirst innings. We just wanted to give him another go.” That wrapped up amatch that left the NCA boys emptyhanded, the Zimbabweans moreexperienced in Indian conditions and a majority of spectators just plainbored.