Instead of Ganguly, who along with Sachin Tendulkar forms a formidable opening pair in the world, Dravid had stepped out in the last league tie against the same side and scored 85 in India’s 13-run win.

Ganguly had later explained the sudden change in batting order saying: “I have failed to score as an opener in the matches played here” and added that he would like his deputy to fill the slot on the track at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the rest of the matches.

But with Dravid’s departure, Ganguly had to be back in the saddle, albeit reluctantly. “I will open the innings. The coach does not like it (my not opening),” Ganguly said with Anshuman Gaekwad by his side after a workout this afternoon.

Dravid’s place in the side is likely to be taken by Tamil Nadu left-handed batsman S. Sriram as it seems from the 12 announced. Spinning ace Anil Kumble has been left out with a bruised shoulder while Uttar Pradesh all-rounder Mohammad Kaif who flew in this morning as a replacement for the Indian vice captain does find a mention in the list.

Ganguly though said the final eleven will be decided tomorrow morning. Regarding Kumble, the captain said it is a “bad injury’ and quoted team physiotherapist Andrew Kokinos to say “there is some problem in the shoulder bone. He (Kumble) feels it while bowling.”

“We will play him if it is absolutely necessary like in the finals,” he added. Ganguly finds Zimbabwe a very deceptive side. “Frankly, I will rate their batting with guys like Andy Flower, Guy Whittall better than that of Sri Lanka.” Andy scored an unbeaten 120 against Lanka and followed it up with a well-struck 63 against India.

On Vinod Kambli who has been struggling for runs, Ganguly said: “Failures are part of the game. It is easy to drop somebody. But the best part of Kambli is that he is a very positive player which matters a lot in one-dayers.”

Asked whether he has been given some advice for his susceptibility to short balls, the captain said: “We preferred to leave him alone.”

Kambli hurt his left arm trying to pull in the last match and was dismissed for 18 off the very next ball attempting the same stroke for a shorter delivery from Zimbabwe seamer T.J. Friend.

Ganguly described India and Pakistan as the best sides for bowling in the slog overs. Regarding batting in the first 15 overs, he said: “The idea is not to lose wickets to be able to add a decent total in the rest 35 overs.”

India will rely on seamers as the captain had pointed out. “We will play three seamers as spinners cannot be effective on this track,” he said. Zaheer Khan will have to carry a lot of responsibility on his young shoulders. Venkatesh Prasad should be aiming for victims having failed to strike in the last match.

Though the Indians won their last league match against the same opponents, the margin of victory (13 runs) left much to be desired. And this came after India’s shock defeat against Zimbabwe by four runs in last year’s World Cup. Any Indian fan would not love a cliff-hanger against a team like Zimbabwe, at least going by the relative strength of the two sides on paper.

India’s loss by five wickets to Sri Lanka in the opener raised some eyebrows, coming as it was after the team’s marvellous show in Nairobi. But the Indians came back in the tournament in the second match and should have no problems reaching the finals.

Zimbabwe will depend on opener Alistair Campbell and left-handed batsman Andy Flower who has been in good nick here scoring an unbeaten 120 and 63 in the two outings. Dirk Viljoen has shaped as a useful all-rounder for them.

Set 305 to win, captain Nasser Hussain hit 73 and injured all-rounder Andrew Flintoff 84 to lead England home with 2.4 overs to spare.

It was England’s highest reply in one-day games and the fourth best ever.

Man-of-the-Match Flintoff was ruled out of the forthcoming three-Test series last week because of a back injury. He cannot bowl.

But he showed no sign of the problem as a batsman as he smashed six fours and three sixes in his 60-ball stay.

Pakistan, cheered on by a partisan 35,000 crowd in the National Stadium, reached 304 for nine.

Their scoring was headed by Abdur Razzaq (75 not out) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (71).

England made a dreadful start to their reply, losing openers AStewart for a duck and Marcus Trescothick for 11.

But Hussain and Graeme Hick (56) took the total from 13 for two to 127 for three before Graham Thorpe (64 not out) and Flintoff stepped in to seal a remarkable success.

All-rounder Abdur Razzak hit a whirlwind unbeaten 75 off just 40 balls to help Pakistan post a challenging 304 for 9.

The 22-year-old hit all the English bowlers with ease and perfection to record his career best score. He improved upon his previous two knocks of 70 — both against Australia — with five fours and three sixes.

Middle order Inzamam-ul-Haq scored 71 in Pakistan’s total.

Batting first, Pakistan had a brisk start of 39 with Saeed Anwar in a punishing mood, hitting four fours in his 24. Craig White dismissed Anwar with his first ball, caught behind by Alec Stewart.

Salim Elahi, centurian in the warm up game on Friday, joined Imran Nazir in a stand of 48 for the second wicket. Elahi and Nazir fell within 10 runs to leave Pakistan at 97 for 3 in the 19th over.

Haq completed his 55th half century off 68 balls studded with four boundaries.

Scoreboard

Pakistan:

Anwar c Stewart b White 24

Nazir b Caddick 31

Elahi c Stewart b Ealham 28

Inzamam c Flintoff b Ealham 71

Youhanna c Stewart b Gough 35

Moin c sub (Solanki) b White 18

Razzak not out 75

Akram run out 0

Younis run out 1

saqlain b Gough 3

Mushtaq not out 2

Extras (lb-6, w-4, nb-6) 16

Total (for 9wkts in 50 overs) 304

Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-87, 3-97, 4-197, 5-219, 6-267, 7-271, 8-277, 9-302

Bowling: Caddick 10-0-53-1, Gough 10-0-71-2, White 9-0-70-2, Ealham 10-0-49-2, Giles 8-0-37-0, Trescothick 3-0-18-0.

England:

Trescothick c Mushtaq b Waqar 11

Stewart c Moin b Wasim 0

Hussain st Moin b Mushtaq 73

Hick c Moin b Razzak 56

Thorpe not out 64

Flintoff c Moin b Razzak 84

White not out 0

Extras: (lb4, w5, nb9) 18

Total (for 5wkts in 47.2 overs) 306

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-13, 3-127, 4-164, 5-302.

Waugh has dismissed rumours that three Australians have been named in the match-fixing report, being prepared by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as “bloody hot air at the moment.”

“It’s all rumour and innuendo and hearsay, nothing is cement or concrete,” Waugh said. “I think it is (put up or shut up time) and I think everyone has had enough of it,” Australian cricket captain said.

Australian star leg-spinner Shane Warne and Mark Waugh have been accused on numerous occasions of being involved in match-fixing and bribery scandals. The duo has been fined by the Australian Cricket Board in the past for accepting money from an Indian bookmaker “John” for imparting pitch and weather condition reports in a match held in Colombo in 1995.

The Australians’ recalcitrant attitude was once again proved by Australian Cricket Board’s chief executive Malcom Speed’s statement a few days ago that the ACB would not take any action against an Australian cricketer based on the “leaked” CBI match-fixing report.

Steve Waugh’s Test team-mate Ricky Ponting, who is in Brisbane these days for a Pura Cup match, has also expressed the same kind of opinion and wished that the controversy would go away soon so the cricketers could concentrate on the game.

But while Australian cricket mandarins and players are diligently stonewalling efforts to implicate their cricketers into any corruption scandal, Australian media has praised the Indians’ endeavour to not only expose the guilty but also to try them in criminal courts like ordinary offenders.

An Indian newspaper had published a news article claiming that the CBI had named four Indians in the match-fixing report. The article had also produced the names of four Indians who are being considered responsible for bringing the game into disrepute.

A London daily, The Telegraph, too had mentioned that three unidentified Australian and two West Indian cricketers would be mentioned in the CBI report.

The Australian board chief had reacted to these articles by saying that the ACB would act only if the report is substantiated by indelible proof of Australian involvement in the match-fixing controversy which has affected the international cricket in a very damaging manner. Speed had also mentioned that the Australians had conducted an inquiry into various corruption charges against the Australian cricketers.

The one-man O’Regan inquiry commission, conducted by an Australian High Court Queen’s Counsel, had absolved all the accused Australians of any serious act of corruption earlier this year.

India is scheduled to tour Pakistan in December-January, 2001 but the board requires clearance from the government.

Indian government had refused permission to the cricket team for the annual Sahara Cup series against Pakistan in Toronto earlier this year citing that country’s support to cross-border terrorism as the reason.

The situation has not improved for the Indian Government to change its stand, the source said.

BCCI Secretary Jaywant Lele, who is here, said the board would wait till November 15 for the government clearance.

“If no clearance comes by that time, the tour would not be on” he said.

“Our heads would go down in shame when we sit in the next International Cricket Council meeting”, Haq told a local daily.

Rookies Bangladesh, led by Naimur Rehman had a humiliating four-match tour of South Africa, with an 82-run loss to Griqualand West in a four-day match followed by three one-day defeats against the Invitation XI.

Bangladesh were bowled out for a paltry 51 and 57 in the last two limited-overs matches to taste 10-wicket and 202-run defeats, respectively.

What made the defeats worse ever for the visitors was the fact that their opponents were a lowly team of South African domestic cricket league (Griqualand West) and a team composed largely of cricketers on the fringe of national senior team selection (Invitation XI).

The talented Jeev, the first Indian to play on the European Tour, flew in from Los Angeles yesterday to discover that his luggage and golf bag had failed to complete the 18-hour journey along with him.

But he was still in buoyant mood going into his first tournament on the Asian PGA Tour since finishing tied fifth at the Malaysian Open in February.

“It’s great to be back in Asia,” he said. “But the bad part is that my golf bag and luggage did not make it here.

“The airline said I should get my stuff early tomorrow (Thursday) morning and I’m praying that they arrive on time for the first round.

“But I’m trying to think of all the positive things about being in Thailand for my title defence.”

Jeev has struggled this year after aggravating an old wrist injury on the right hand at the Qatar Masters in March. The problem became worse at the Irish Open in June and the Indian star took a complete break from the game for four months.

But despite lingering concerns about his wrist, he was optimistic of a return to form after meeting up here with his coach Sam Frost.

“I’ve got partially-torn ligaments on the wrist and it still hurts occasionally,” Singh said.

“I have to be extremely careful when I’m in thick rough here. My game still needs a lot of work but with Sam here this week, I’m pretty confident.

“I’d like to get a few good results in the coming months to make up for a disappointing first half. Winning will be a bonus,” said Jeev, who won last year’s title after a three-way play-off with Taimur Hussain of Pakistan and Myanmar’s Zaw Moe.

Zidane was red carded by Scottish referee Stuart Dougal for a headbutt on Jochen Kientz, thereby picking up his second red card of the campaign.

Given the fact that Zidane’s act is likely to be interpreted by disciplinary chiefs as violent conduct, a three-match ban is the least he can realistically expect.

The dismissal comes at a time — even by his own magnificent standards — when he has been receiving glowing references from his peers and coaches in Serie A.

Zidane, the key player in France’s World Cup and Euro 2000 winning sides, has been in inspired form in Serie A.

His performance on a quagmire of a pitch in the home 2-0 victory over Bari was a case in point.

He set up a goal for Darko Kovacevic and converted a late penalty and Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti bubbled, “Zizou was great in the first half. Who knows what he would have done on a normal pitch?”

The Marseille-born playmaker of Algerian parents did even better during Saturday’s 2-2 draw with AC Milan at the San Siro.

Even AC Milan fans were moved to applaud Zidane who was the conduit through which all the attacking ideas of the visitors flowed.

Zidane was feted throughout the Italian media for that match with Gazzetta dello Sport saying, begrudgingly, “He may be French but he is ours.”

But the Champions League campaign has not been plain sailing for the former Cannes and Bordeaux player and he was dismissed against Deportivo La Coruna, also at the Stadio delle Alpi earlier in the tournament.

UEFA reduced his ban from two games to one — ironically that allowed him to make his unfortunate date with destiny yesterday — but it is unlikely they will err on the side of leniency this time.

Given the Frenchman’s importance, the ban is likely to compromise his club’s qualification bid.

Ancelotti was candid after Zidane’s moment of folly — shortly followed by the sending off another key player Edgar Davids, saying, “The behaviour of Zidane and Davids is difficult to explain. I did not ask for their explanation, they did not offer it.”

But if Juventus boss Ancelotti is feeling blue, he should remember that Zidane has a habit of turning his moments of madness into gold.

During the 1998 World Cup, he was suspended for two matches after being dismissed for stamping on a Saudi Arabian player in a group match.

But he returned to become a national hero, heading the first two goals in this country’s shock 3-0 victory over Brazil in the World Cup final in Paris, which catapulted the balding maestro into becoming the most famous Frenchman.

He was a natural choice for the Golden Ball award to Europe’s top player and FIFA’s world player of the year after those World Cup heroics while Zidane, with his France 98 team-mates, was presented with the Legion d’Honneur.

The year 1999 was a more low key one but he was back at his peak in Euro 2000. Zidane led France to the continental title, scoring a vital goal against Spain in the quarter-final and a golden goal penalty to see off Portugal in the semis.

The softly-spoken family man — he is married to a Spanish wife and has two sons Enzo and Luca — admits he does not like a lot of the attention that goes with his status.

Asked if he was the Juventus leader, he recently said, “On the field maybe but not off it. I do not like to talk.”

Zidane has come a long way from the Marseille suburb where he used to idolise the city’s football team and in particular their Uruguayan striker Enzo Francescoli — he named his first son after Francescoli.

Ironically, it is due to the fact that his adolescence coincided with the rise of the Marseille team run by controversial tycoon Bernard Tapie that prevented Zidane from finding his feet in what would appear his natural home.

Tapie, later disgraced in a match-fixing scandal, broke the bank to lure already established stars to the Cote d’Azur at the expense of local talent and the then unknown Zidane had to learn his trade down the coast at Cannes, more famous for launching cinematic stars than footballers.

The winners led 2-0 at the breather.

In a keenly contested match, Indian National Club surged ahead in the 5th minute through striker Pushpender Kumar who capitalised on the defensive lapse of the IAF men (1-0).

Ten minutes later the local club further consolidated their lead with Trilok Singh Bisht scoring a superb goal (2-0).

In the second session, IAF launched a counter offensive and made several incisive sorties and managed to penetrate into the rival defence.

The repeated attacks finally paid off for IAF as they reduced the lead in the 53rd minute through K.Pal (1-2).

Indian National Club retaliated and again increased their lead in the 76th minute. This time Shekhar scored the goal (3-1).

Trounced in a 25-move game experts billed as “historic”, Kasparov was visibly shaken yesterday before blundering into an early resignation to stand two games down.

Just six games remain in the 16-match tournament for Kasparov to address the two-point deficit — and having drawn eight of the 10 games against 24-year-old Kramnik so far, winning opportunities are few and far between. For Kasparov, who declared at the start of the tournament he expected to see “surprises” from the first real challenger he has faced since snatching the title from Russia’s Anatoly Karpov in 1985, history is repeating itself. But this time the roles are reversed. Azerbaijan-born Kasparov is facing a challenger in his early 20s, just as he was when he first beat Karpov. And now, two games down, he is the underdog.

“I would predict that this match would be the most interesting and the most important for the game of chess,” Kasparov predicted at the launch of the competition.

Kramnik was quietly confident before the confrontation with the man who took him into his Botvinnik-Kasparov chess school in Moscow when he was just 11 years old and whom he seconded in Kasparov’s title defence against Viswanathan Anand in 1995.

“I have my strategies,” the soft-spoken grandmaster said secretively before the duel-self-confidence which has since proved well-founded. The pair will play a total of 16 games at the Riverside Studios in west London, each to be completed within a day and broadcast live on the Internet at www.braingames.net.