NEW DELHI, March 4: India carried out a tense chase of a modest fourth innings target to beat Zimbabwe by four wickets in the second Test against Zimbabwe and sweep the two-match series Monday.
Set 122 runs to win the game, India suddenly found themselves at 105 for six before reaching 126 without further loss at lunch on the fifth and final day.
Tail-ender Harbhajan Singh, whose bowling heroics the previous evening had left India on the verge of victory, kept his cool to score 14 not out in a 17-ball cameo.
He smashed paceman Heath Streak for a straight six to signal victory along with Sanjay Bangar, who was three not out, to bring relief to the Indian dressing room and disappointment for Zimbabwe who looked like snatching an improbable victory.
Sachin Tendulkar had hit an aggressive 42 from 52 balls in a 57-run fourth wicket partnership with opener Shiv Sundar Das (31) to lift India after resuming on a shaky 36 for three overnight.
But left-arm spinner Raymond Price brought the game alive by trapping the master batsman leg before and then removed the experienced Rahul Dravid for six runs.
Heath Streak trapped Das leg before in between as the Indians once again looked like succumbing to the pressure of chasing a target.
But the gutsy Harbhajan lofted Streak over cover for four to bring India within two runs of victory.
Harbhajan was named Man-of-the-Match for his match haul of 8-132, including a superb 6-62 to skittle out Zimbabwe for 146 in their second innings on the fourth evening.
It was India’s fourth consecutive series victory at home as they continued to hold sway on spin-friendly Indian pitches.
Since suffering a 2-0 rout against South Africa in 2000, India have beaten Australia and England besides scoring two victories over Zimbabwe.
For Zimbabwe, who lost the first Nagpur Test by an innings and 101 runs, it was their second successive series rout, having lost all three Tests in Sri Lanka recently.
India scored 354 in reply to Zimbabwe’s first innings 329 before off-spinner Harbhajan and Anil Kumble shared all 10 second innings wickets to undermine Zimbabwe on the fourth day.
Leg-spinner Kumble, with a series haul of 16 wickets, was named Man-of-the-Series.
Tendulkar hit a flurry of boundaries against both pace and spin after India resumed at a shaky 36 for three.
He took three fours off left-arm spinner Grant Flower and then picked three more to the square-leg region against Streak.
But the quick dismissals of Tendulkar and Das on a dusty final day pitch and a shoulder injury to in-form batsman Virender Sehwag brought them under pressure.
Tendulkar was trapped leg before attempting a sweep against Raymond Price, who dismissed the key batsman for the third consecutive time in the series.
The two sides play a five-match one-day series starting Thursday.
ZIMBABWE (1st Innings) 329 (D.D. Ebrahim 94, A. Flower 92).
INDIA (1st Innings) 354 (S.C. Ganguly 136, V. Sehwag 74; H.H. Streak 4-92).
ZIMBABWE (2nd Innings) 146 (Harbhajan Singh 6-62, A.R. Kumble 4-58).
INDIA (2nd Innings, overnight 36-3):
S.S. Das lbw b Streak 31
D. Dasgupta run out 1
S.C. Ganguly lbw b G.W. Flower 20
A.R. Kumble c Gripper b G.W. Flower 0
S.R. Tendulkar lbw b Price 42
R.S. Dravid c A. Flower b Price 6
S.B. Bangar not out 3
Harbhajan Singh not out 14
EXTRAS (B-4, NB-5) 9
TOTAL (for six wkts, 45.5 overs) 126
FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-36, 3-36, 4-93, 5-103, 6-105.
BOWLING: Streak 16.5-4-53-1; Friend 3-0-17-0 (5nb); Price 19-9-24-2; G.W. Flower 6-3-22-2; Gripper 1-0-6-0.—Reuters