Published: Jul 12, 2015, 03:43 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 12, 2015, 10:38 PM (IST)
Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura played an innings that fought crumbling walls around him. Abhishek Mukherjee revisits his endeavour.
Against testy bowling and in swinging conditions in Harare, India and Zimbabwe started their respective innings shakily, but the nagging presence of a target and a required run-rate thrust more pressure on the chasing batsmen. Both sets of lower-order batsmen contributed significantly, and lifted the initial run-rates of around four or lower that was set up by dot balls played by their top orders. It was a thriller significantly different from the high-scoring ones trending in the current era. It was also a refreshing feeling, for elements such as backing solid technique to counter swing and piercing gaps in the field to maximise the literally run-scoring opportunities in the outfield, mattered. READ: Elton Chigumbura scores 2nd ODI ton
Accurate, disciplined bowling had its rewards, as had quality spin. Eventually, there were four runs that separated the two sides. Although it felt Elton Chigumbura had the game in his control with an over to go for the finish, he was always fighting an uphill battle with the paucity of a stable, long-term batting partner, as against the other centurion of the match, Ambati Rayudu, who had Stuart Binny by his side.
Chigumbura arrived at the crease in the 13th over; Vusimuzi Sibanda, the opener who looked likely to showcase his belligerent capabilities, had perished after hitting a six, prompting caution among the batting duo at the crease.
Chigumbura played a number of dot balls, punctuated by the occasional boundary against Harbhajan Singh, who was running through his overs quickly, and Akshar Patel. The run rate hovered below the 4-mark. The asking rate had touched 6 when Hamilton Masakadza was out via a leading edge off Akshar’s bowling. After an over of forcing two twos off Dhawal Kulkarni, Sean Williams perished for a duck. The required rate climbed to 6.48 at the end of that over. READ: Stuart Binny’s all-round show, Ambati Rayudu help India beat Zimbabwe by 4 runs
Chigumbura found Sikandar Raza for company. Raza batted at over a run a ball during his cameo, and till he was around, the chase never looked improbable. Could Raza be the Binny of Zimbabwe? He hit two fours to get help get 11 runs in the 27th over before playing relatively quietly against Akshar, Binny and Harbhajan: only one four was hit in this short period, but it looked like he would explode any time. He tried to maximise scoring in Harbhajan’s eighth over, hitting two boundaries off him, but mis-hit a pull off a half-tracker that was similar to the one he had punished for a four the previous ball.
By this time — the end of 33 overs — Chigumbura was struggling. He could not afford to play extravagantly owing to the falling wickets around him, but on the other hand, was eating up too many dot balls. He looked to push the balls into gaps in the field, but they invariably went to fielders with uncanny perfection. Then, with the required rate at 7.50, he lost Richmond Mutumbami; Zimbabwe’s sixth wicket had fallen, with a lot of ground still to make.
Graeme Cremer, the next man in, started sedately. Till the 43rd over, off which only two runs were extracted, Zimbabwe managed only two more fours. They now need about 10 an over. Chigumbura hit the last ball of the next over, bowled by Kulkarni, for six. Once again a two-over struggle followed, but this one was mitigated by quite a few ones and twos, made possible in the large outfield despite deep-set fielders everywhere. The drying up of big hits bulked the required rate up to 11.25.
Chigumbura had to go all-out at this stage. He went after Kulkarni. He got deep inside his crease, got one knee down to get under a low full toss, and smashed Kulkarni to extra cover with power. Four braces were gathered from balls hit to long-on, long-off, cover and square leg, off two full balls, a slower length ball, and a short ball.
In the 48th over, Chigumbura smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the long-on boundary (once again, staying deep in his crease). He ran with urgency to a ball sent to deep midwicket before attempting to crack another hit to Murali Vijay at long-on. Vijay sprinted across to his left, dived, but spilled it. They ran two. A single taken off a full toss in the next gave Cremer the strike; he lapped the final ball cheekily behind the wicketkeeper to help his team to four crucial runs.
Zimbabwe now needed 18 from 12 balls. The penultimate over had the batsmen scampering seven runs to balls hit to long-off, long-leg and long-on, and an eighth run was collected through a wide. Chigumbura’s hundred, his second in as many ODIs, arrived in this over. The crowd jumped and sang together in unison as Zimbabwe inched closer and closer to the coveted victory. But Cremer brought out a reverse-sweep (why?) off the last ball of the over; then with 10 needed from 7 balls to win, he didn’t connect well and provided a simple catch to point.
Accurate bowling and limited batting abilities of No. 9 Donald Tiripano at the other end limited Chigumbura in the final over. He refused a single off the fourth ball mishit to long-off — one he should have capitalised on as it was a low full toss.
Did his lack of timing show fatigue? Or nerves? Or both? Needing six to win from the last ball, he stepped down the track and drove the ball to long-on, and managed a single.
Chigumbura later told the press that the pitch was ‘good to bat on, but we kept losing wickets’, leaving in no doubt the frustration he suffered at not receiving a stable partner. His stand of 86 with Cremer, off 11.2 overs, looked to be an alliance to bank on, but Cremer gifted his wicket away at a crucial moment. This was nearly half of India’s leading partnership, of 160.
Chigumbura didn’t get the ideal circumstances. Neither could he seal the match for his side. But he did everything else that he could do.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is a reporter with CricketCountry. His Twitter handle is @bhejafryyy)
