Zimbabwe beat India By 6 wickets in third ODI at Kochi

Kochi, March 13: Marvellous performance of Hondo leads Zimbabwe to six wickets win over India here in Kochi.

Sourav Ganguly won the toss for the third time in the series. But that would be the only bright spot of his day. His dismissal was rather pathetic and his knees were dodgy right through. Perhaps he should take a break from the next two games, at Hyderabad and Guwahati.

Then again with India trailing for the second time in three matches, the captain will be keen to ensure another visiting team do not get the better of us as England did in the 3-3 draw in January.

This time it was Douglas Hero Hondo who sliced off the creamy layer of the Indian batting in the morning. The first four wickets were down for 51 runs, the last six for 54. Five of those batsmen were out to the first ball of the over with VVS Laxman once again indulging in his airy-fairy special.

In between there was a face saving stand between Kaif and Sanjay Bangar. Still, 191 was a very poor return by any standards, the second lowest total by an Indian team against Zimbabwe.

Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar bowled useful opening spells and Zimbabwe lost two quick wickets. But the sapping heat and humidity of Kochi at this time of the year meant the bowlers lost their sting after a few overs and the batsmen cashed in.

Campbell got his third straight fifty of the series and Grant Flower chipped in with 49. That was enough for Zimbabwe. It needed just one century stand for them to overhaul the puny target which they did with ease with six wickets and over five overs in hand.

In the event, they barely missed their star batsman, Andy Flower. The Indian team on the other hand brought in Sarandeep Singh for the injured Anil Kumble and he turned out to be a very poor replacement.

The Indians with Sachin Tendulkar, Javagal Srinath and Virender Sehwag either resting or injured now have taken on the appearance of the walking wounded with Ganguly and Kumble joining the casualty list. Not a good omen with a strenuous tour to the West Indies round the corner. They must be counting the days to the fifth and final ODI at Guwahati on March 19.

Teams:

India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Dinesh Mongia, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sanjay Bangar, Mohd Kaif, Ajay Ratra, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Sarandeep Singh.

Zimbabwe: Stuart Carlisle (captain), Alistair Campbell, Douglas Marillier, Travis Friend, Grant Flower, Heath Streak, Dion Ebrahim, Craig Wishart, Tatenda Taibu, Douglas Hondo, Pommy Mbangwa.

Umpires: Devender Sharma and Vijay Chopra (both Delhi)

Third Umpire: Suresh Shastri (Mumbai).