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Under a sky half-covered in light cloud and against a backdrop of theBvumba Mountains at the beautiful Mutare Sports Club ground, Indiabegan their six-week tour of Zimbabwe on Monday. The highlight of thefirst day of their match against Zimbabwe A was a brilliant century byRahul Dravid, which enabled them to declare at 336 for nine. They thentook one wicket for 33 runs in 16 overs by the close.The pitch contained some bounce but the ball did not appear to come onto the bat, while the outfield was uneven. However, for a recentlyrevived ground with new developments taking place all the time, it wascommendable. There was a keen Monday morning crowd of about 200,mostly parties of schoolchildren, and the number doubled during theafternoon.India made a steady start against the bowling of Bryan Strang andTravis Friend for half an hour before both openers fell in quicksuccession. Sadgopan Ramesh (13) chopped a lifter from Friend on tohis stumps, while Shiv Sunder Das (4) snicked Strang to wicket-keeperTaibu in the next over. India suddenly found themselves at 18 for two.Venkatsai Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar both settled in, content to waitfor the bad ball, but neither was to go on to play a major innings.Tendulkar, driving straight, hit a ball back at Mutendera’s midriff,which he juggled and finally grasped to send the little master on hisway for 11. Laxman continued to leave the off-side fielders standingwith his powerful stroke play, but then, when on 24, he played back toMutendera and was bowled through the gate. Overall Friend looked thebest of a good trio of bowlers, showing good pace and stamina after along layoff from the game.Saurav Ganguly (12) was next to go, brilliantly caught low down byFriend at second slip off Mutendera; at 71 for five after 26 overswith only Rahul Dravid of their top order remaining, India were inunexpected trouble. Wicket-keeper Samir Dighe, though, made animmediate positive impression at the crease, looking more comfortablethan some of his superiors, and the pair were still there at lunch.The afternoon session produced cricket as different as day from night.Dravid and Dighe batted superbly until after tea in a finepartnership, with Dravid’s share a glorious century. India appeared tohave decided at lunch to take the initiative, as Dravid, pulling anddriving with time to spare, took 16 runs off Friend’s first over afterthe break. The onslaught continued, with runs now coming at about sixan over. The batsmen used their feet to leg-spinner Brian Murphyand pulled fiercely at anything short, Dravid quite belying hisreputation as an accumulator with one dazzling stroke after another.No bowler was able to restrain the flow of languid, beautifully timedboundaries all round the wicket. With tea drawing near the scoring slowed,as Dravid approached his century with caution and Zimbabwe A resortedto defensive field placing.Dravid’s hundred finally came off 97 balls. It took a while to warm upagain after tea, and just as Dravid was getting into his stride againand taking Murphy apart, the leg-spinner lured him into an uppishdrive to mid-on and he departed for 137, scored off 135 balls, with 22fours and a six. India were now 296 for six, and the partnership withDighe had added 225.Murphy also claimed the wicket of Dighe, lbw for 87. Zaheer Khan (14)and Harbhajan Singh (19) hit freely before Ganguly declared with thescore 336 for nine. Mutendera took three for 69, Murphy three for 77and Friend two for 70.Zaheer Khan and Debashish Mohanty opened the bowling with some firebut an absence of line, and Gavin Rennie (1) was highly annoyed to begiven out caught by the keeper while chasing a ball from the latterwell down the leg side. Dion Ebrahim (25) and Hamilton Masakadza (6)played safe for the close.

Rangers full-back Borna Barisic has admitted that he is not happy with his current situation at Ibrox under Gio van Bronckhorst.

He has found himself playing a supporting role to Calvin Bassey at left-back and is not content with being a back-up for the Glasgow giants.

The Glasgow Times quotes him as saying: “As far as Rangers goes, I’m still playing plenty of minutes because we are playing every three or four days at the moment.

“I haven’t played in a few games and I’m not happy about that, but it’s not a drama.

“It’s been a fairytale for me at Rangers and some things have changed now. But it’s nothing terrible.”

Axe him

Van Bronckhorst must now end Barisic’s fairytale at Ibrox by brutally axing him from the club in the summer – cashing in on him whilst his stock is still relatively high.

He was hooked off at half-time in the club’s last Old Firm clash at the start of February as he endured a rough 45 minutes against the Hoops in a 3-0 loss.

Former Celtic defender Mark Wilson commented on his performance, saying: “He did look terrified in possession, he looked terrified out of possession. I think we can all agree he probably had one of his poorest nights in a Rangers shirt.”

Since that match, he has only started four games in the Premiership and Europa League. He was, however, handed the left-back spot in both legs of the knock-out win over Borussia Dortmund but registered dismal SofaScore ratings of 6.2 and 6.4.

In the second leg, van Bronckhorst hauled him off at half-time after a poor showing in the first half. As per SofaScore, he only completed 64% of his attempted passes and gave possession away seven times whilst winning just one duel, which led to him being brought off at the interval.

Watford were reportedly interested in a deal for the Croatia international in January before moving on to other targets, with the Gers valuing him at £5m. The Dutch head coach must now allow him to leave if any offers in that price range arrive in the summer as his performances in big games have been nowhere near good enough of late.

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His showings against Celtic and Dortmund, along with Bassey’s emergence as the first-choice at left-back, suggest that it is the right time for him to move on. Barisic’s comments also hint at him not wanting to play second fiddle and there is nothing to suggest that he will usurp the Nigerian any time soon, which is why Rangers must cash in on him now.

AND in other news, Left for £0: Allen had Rangers howler on “outstanding” 6ft4 gem whose value rose 700%…

Scorecard

	Bangladesh got their first win against an ODI side © Tigercricket.com

It was a historic day for Bangladesh as they got their first win against an ODI team when they beat Pakistan by four wickets in Kurunegala. Salma Khatun, the Bangladesh captain, scored 53 after offspinner Tithy Sarkar restricted Pakistan to 134.After their crushing 182-run defeat to India on Friday, Bangladesh bounced back impressively to bowl out Pakistan with an over to spare. Sarkar took two wickets in two overs and Pakistan stumbled to 55 for 3 in 19 overs. She picked up two more wickets and ensured no partnership was forged as Pakistan plodded along at less than three an over. Bismah Maroof top scored with 29 and her opening partnership of 27 with Tasqeen Qadeer was the innings’ highest.Though the target was relatively modest, Bangladesh got themselves in to trouble early on, losing three wickets for 26 runs. Then Salma joined Panna Ghosh at the crease and the two added 37 together. Ghosh stayed for 51 balls, for her 14, and allowed Salma to push the chase along. Bangladesh lost two more wickets before Salma wrapped up the match with 27 balls to spare. She hit six fours in her 92-ball innings.
Scorecard
Mithali Raj followed up her unbeaten century on Friday with a half-century as India continued their winning ways at the Asia Cup with a 29-run victory over Sri Lanka in Dambulla.The Indian openers, Jaya Sharma and Karuna Jain, set the platform for the total with a 62-run partnership before both were dismissed by Shashikala Siriwardene. Raj added another 62 with Priyanka Roy to take India to 227. Suwini de Alwis, who took two wickets against Pakistan, picked up 3 for 36 while Siriwardene ended with 3 for 54.Though Sri Lanka lost two wickets – to Rumeli Dhar – early in the innings, Friday’s top scorer Dedunu Silva hit 74 off 87 balls to take them to the 100-run mark. But Sri Lanka lost their last seven wickets for 66 runs as Pujare Seema and Dhar shared six wickets between them.

Just when the sponsorship dispute between the West Indies cricket board and the players association appeared to be nearing resolution, the saga has taken another twist. Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players’ Association, has claimed that Brian Lara and six other dropped players have received death threats owing to the sponsorship dispute with the board.”[They] face overwhelming pressure including death threats, and threats from the WICB never to play again,” claimed Ramnarine. “Threats and intimidation from sponsors, and pressure from the highest political levels within the length and breadth of the Caribbean community.”Ramnarine lashed out at the board, further saying that the dispute – in which seven players were dropped from the squad for the first Test against South Africa in Guyana – had made the board “tyrannical and despotic”. The board “has suspended its discretion, jettisoned all reasoning, and is hell-bent at all costs to do the bidding of its sponsor. In fact, the board was prepared to sacrifice West Indies cricket and the development of a successful team on the altar of commercial expediency.”The board, however, has declined to comment on the allegations made by WIPA. A statement on the windiescricket.com website quotes the WICB as saying: “The WICB is concerned about the tone and content of this highly emotional and totally inaccurate statement, which is most unbecoming and unworthy of an organisation representing professional sportsmen. The WICB, therefore, is of the view that this irresponsible statement is unworthy of any further response.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Chris Gayle smashed the bowling to all parts on the way to an entertaining 72 © AFP

After India had stodged and struggled on the first day, West Indies’ batsmen showed that run-scoring wasn’t so difficult on this Antigua pitch after all, rattling up 318 for 6 by close of play on the second day. Chris Gayle led the show upfront with a thunderous 72, while Dwayne Bravo continued to play the role of India’s tormentor with aplomb, scoring a sparkling 68. With Ramnaresh Sarwan chipping in with a classy half-century as well, West Indies finished the day 77 in front.If the batting performances of the two sides was a contrast, then so was the bowling displays. While West Indies’ fast bowlers mostly bowled in the channel outside off and forced the batsmen into indiscretion, the Indian seamers – especially Sreesanth and VRV Singh – sprayed it liberally on both sides of the wicket, offering plenty of scoring opportunities, which Gayle and co. grabbed eagerly.The run-deluge started early, after Daren Ganga was harshly adjudged lbw to Munaf. Gayle, who had survived a far closer shout when on 1, took on the fast bowlers with typically audacious strokes, and India’s total of 241 suddenly looked even smaller. Footwork has never been his forte, and here again, Gayle backed his hand-eye coordination, going hard after the ball when offered the width. The upper-cuts came into play early as Gayle hoisted the ball well clear of the slips. That forced the bowlers to pitch it up further, and Gayle was ready with some brutally powerful shots down the ground, especially memorable being one hit off the hapless Sreesanth which cleared the long-off fence.The early onslaught forced Rahul Dravid on the defensive – the slip cordon reduced to two, a third man was brought in – but the runs continued to flow. VRV Singh came on to bowl in the tenth over of the innings, and his initiation wasn’t a memorable one: the first ball was cut away for four by Sarwan – who played an ideal second foil to Gayle in the 119-run second wicket stand – while there were two more boundaries in an over which leaked 13.It needed Anil Kumble’s guile to winkle out Gayle, but by then West Indies had already gained the initiative. India recovered somewhat when they quickly got rid of Brian Lara – who sparkled briefly for his 18, but then perished thanks to his extravagance – and Sarwan, but that was the cue for Bravo to get his act going.Throughout this series, be it with bat or with ball, Bravo has stamped his authority on the game, and he did it here again. When he came in to bat, West Indies were 182 for 4, still 59 in the arrears. That number whittled away in quick time, as Bravo launched himself at the Indian attack. Precise in footwork, high on confidence, flawless in shot-selection, Bravo pushed India back on the defensive in a trice. His trademark shot was the flick through and over midwicket when the bowlers drifted on leg, and sometimes even when they didn’t. It was effective, and it was glorious to watch – front leg going across, bat going up in a high backlift and ending with a flourish for a follow-through. Even Kumble wasn’t spared as Bravo stroked him cleanly through the leg side, and played a couple of outstanding back-foot punches through cover when the length was marginally short.The bowler who suffered most through the day, though, was Sreesanth. He was clobbered first by Gayle (29 off 27 balls), and then by Bravo (22 off 17), who once crashed him for three fours in an over – a slashed edge, a flick, and a straight-drive as Sreesanth lost all control of direction and served up a juicy full-toss. Eighty-two runs in 13 overs indicates just how much West Indies relished his offerings.For Dravid, it was a tough day in the field. He chose to go with four bowlers, three of whom had little Test match experience, and two of whom inspired little confidence. The situation was dire enough for him to abandon his usual position in the slips and come over to mid-off to talk to his bowlers. That helped little in the case of Sreesanth and Singh – who was far too erratic to be effective – and while Munaf bowled a couple of effective spells, by the final session he was a spent force, bowling at around 120 kmph.India’s plight would have been even worse had it not been for Virender Sehwag, who got the ball to turn, bounce, and was rewarded with two wickets. The ball with which he got Bravo was a beauty – it pitched outside off, turned, bounced, and went between bat and pad as Bravo attempted a drive. Dhoni effected a superb stumping to give the Indians something to cheer about, but with a substantial lead already, and with Denesh Ramdin batting sensibly, West Indies will feel quite satisfied with the way the day panned out.

Munaf Patel b Edwards 0 (241 all out)
West IndiesDaren Ganga lbw b Munaf 9 (18 for 1)
Chris Gayle c Dravid b Kumble 72 (137 for 2)
Brian Lara c Yuvraj b Munaf 18 (159 for 3)
Ramnaresh Sarwan lbw b Kumble 58 (182 for 4)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul c Dhoni b Sehwag 24 (255 for 5)
Dwayne Bravo st Dhoni b Sehwag 68 (282 for 6)
End-of-day interactive video highlights from the Test series are available for $9.95 to Cricinfo users in the USA and Canada.