If Zimbabwe’s first tour game was disappointing in terms of dazzlingbrilliance, the second match against the Board President’s XI wasdisappointing simply because skipper Heath Streak had to sit out
Anand Vasu13-Nov-2000If Zimbabwe’s first tour game was disappointing in terms of dazzlingbrilliance, the second match against the Board President’s XI wasdisappointing simply because skipper Heath Streak had to sit out.Named in the squad half an hour before play, one was surprised to seeGuy Whittall going out to toss. A quick chat with coach Carl Rackemannrevealed that Streak was running high temperature and had a sorethroat to boot. In his absence, the Zimbabweans had to open with theerratic Henry Olonga and the inexperienced Travis Friend after theylost the toss. Taken to task in various degrees by batsmen through theorder, the Zimbabwe bowlers had little to show for at the end of theday. Kanitkar had an impressive if conservative 118 not out, Shewaghad a stroke filled 60, Dahiya a satisfying fifty and Badani aconfident 35. All the Zimbabweans had was the ignominy of conceding314 runs, including 42 boundaries and 4 sixes to a very ordinary BoardPresident’s XI side.Opening the batting for the Board President’s XI, Ravneet Ricky andVijay Dahiya were circumspect. Usually a strokemaker, Ricky wasunusually quiet and this was a precursor to his downfall. Flashinghard at a delivery from Friend that should have been left well alone,Ricky found himself walking back to the pavilion after Trevor Madondoat third slip had taken a smart catch.Free stroking Tamil Nadu southpaw Hemang Badani walked out to themiddle and dealt in boundaries. Playing with a straight bat, Badanihit the ball cleanly past the infield. Opening his account with an offdrive that left the midoff fielder gaping, Badani grew in confidencewith every boundary. After playing four more sizzling boundariesthrough the off side, one through midwicket and a clipped six oversquareleg, Badani fell to Paul Strang. An unfortunate dismissal atbest, Badani played above a ball from Strang that kept low and scootedthrough to hit the stumps. He had made 35, and was in much the sameposition as his limited overs debut for India. On that occasion, theAsia Cup in Dhaka, he made 35 against Bangladesh. There too, he lookedgood for more.Badani’s dismissal gave skipper Hemant Kanitkar a chance to take guardand catch the selectors’ eye. He played accordingly, mixing enterprisewith abundant caution. Although he never looked on top of the bowling,he always looked like he put a high price on his wicket. Vijay Dahiyatoo was solid enough. After beginning slowly, he became impatient fora period and played a few loose shots. However he lived to tell thetale and made his way to fifty. At exactly that score, a brilliantcatch from Grant Flower put an end to his innings. Playing hisfavourite shot, the chip over covers, Dahiya watched in amazement asGrant Flower ran back a few yards and plucked the ball out of the air.Dahiya’s dismissal was a blessing in disguise for the local team.Firstly, Dahiya having made a half century, might have just doneenough to book a place in the Test side. Secondly, this brought theflashy Virender Shewag to the crease. His style of batting wasperfectly suited to the insipid leg spin the Zimbabweans were dishingout. Young Brian Murphy in particular came in for a lot of stick.Being young is often touted as a huge virtue in cricket circles.However, youth almost always brings with it healthy amounts ofinexperience, even immaturity. This was certainly the case withMurphy. After delivering a healthy number of full tosses outside offstump, he switched to a line well outside leg stump. The result wasthe same. Shewag had raced to 60 off just 78 balls before he ran outof luck. Attempting to hit Paul Strang over long on, he only managedto find Olonga on the fence.At 4/227, Board President’s XI were still well on their way to a goodscore despite the loss of four top order batsmen. Kanitkar, as is hiswont in tour warm up games, plodded carefully on towards his century.He briefly enjoyed the company of Abbas Ali, a Madhya Pradesh batsmanwho has made very few ripples in Indian cricket so far. Ali made afleeting 16 and it was as though Kanitkar hardly noticed his comingand going.With Abhijit Kale as partner, Kanitkar tonked a Grant Flower deliveryover mid on and completed his century. His effort took over threehours and included 11 hits that reached the boundary. The skipper isindeed in a strange situation. Although he keeps getting picked toplay warm up games against touring sides, and indeed makes runsagainst them, he can’t seem to find a slot in the Indian team. AbhijitKale, on whom many once had high hopes, kept the skipper company asthe two saw Board President’s XI safely through to stumps at 314/5.Kanitkar had 118 against his name while Kale had quietly moved on to15.