da betsul： Indian captain Saurav Ganguly on Wednesday gave the go-ahead topaceman Ashish Nehra, who was stopped from bowling in the first Testagainst Zimbabwe, for the second Test but opener Sadagoppan Rameshcontinued to be a doubtful starter having not
14-Jun-2001Indian captain Saurav Ganguly on Wednesday gave the go-ahead topaceman Ashish Nehra, who was stopped from bowling in the first Testagainst Zimbabwe, for the second Test but opener Sadagoppan Rameshcontinued to be a doubtful starter having not recovered fully from aback injury.”He (Nehra) would play,” Ganguly said with a finality after a look atthe wicket at the Harare Sports Club where the second Test starts onFriday.There were doubts over Nehra’s inclusion in the team for the secondTest after the umpires stopped him midway in his 27th over of theZimbabwe second innings in Bulawayo and disqualified him from bowlingfor the rest of the innings for damaging the pitch in his followthrough.Nehra, whose boots damaged the pitch near the non-striker’s wickets inhis follow-through, was warned twice by the umpires and on the thirdoccasion he was stopped from bowling.Coach John Wright too supported Nehra’s cause saying the bowler hadperformed very well in the Bulawayo Test claiming five wicketsincluding the prized wicket of Andy Flower in both the innings.However, Ramesh, who struggled with the bat in the first Test, has notrecovered from the injury he sustained while fielding in Bulawayo, andis not sure of playing here. “His back has not improved much,” saidGanguly. “We would have to keep a close watch on his fitness.”Ramesh took two outstanding catches in the second innings of the firstTest, the second being an air-borne one-handed catch to dismiss dangerman Andy Flower during which he injured his back.If Ramesh has to sit out, his state mate Hemang Badani may make hisdebut and asked to open the innings with Shiv Sunder Das.Meanwhile, Ganguly looked pleased with the pitch at the stadium whichseemed a bit more spinner-friendly than the one at Bulawayo.Zimbabwe coach Carl Rackemann said the pitch here would be verydifferent from the first Test. “This is a different track. It willhave a lot of pace though there might not be as much sidewaysmovement,” he said.”Having said that, I think the track in Bulawayo was outstanding andeveryone, be it a batsman or a bowler, had a chance in the middle,” hesaid.Rackemann felt had his bowlers performed a little better the fate ofthe first Test would have been different. “I have no doubt on thisscore. I think we didn’t bowl as well as we should have to Harbhajan(Singh). We allowed him to get away with easy runs. We would make sureit doesn’t happen here.””If we bowl with discipline and bat the way we did in the secondinnings, we could spring a surprise on the Indians,” he said.Zimbabwe are fancying their chances here with Travis Friend, whomissed the first Test with a thigh injury, recovering fast and lookingalmost a certainty for the Test.The paceman bowled at full tilt for 45 minutes in the practice sessiontoday and was confident of playing here. “I have missed out on fiveTests in the last season because of injuries. I don’t want it tohappen here again,” Friend said.Friend, who has a special ability to bounce on any surface, said hestill feels a niggle in his thigh. “Hopefully it will come right intime,” he said.