Zimbabwe national cricket team captain Sikandar Raza opened up about his team’s performance in the second T20 match of the three-match series against the India national cricket team on Saturday, July 25. India won the second game by defeating Zimbabwe by 90 runs and took a 2–0 lead in the series.
Speaking after the defeat, Sikandar Raza was not happy with the team’s fielding performance and said that the team failed to execute its plans in the second T20I as well. He lauded the collective effort of the players and expressed confidence that Zimbabwe will bounce back in the upcoming series and matches and look to achieve a higher position.
Ishan Kishan shines for India
Sikandar Raza won the toss and decided to bowl first. They made no changes after their defeat in the first game, while the Men in Blue handed Yash Thakur his first cap as the fast bowler replaced Ashok Sharma, who made his debut in the previous match.
Abhishek Sharma, who was invited to bat first, continued his poor form and was out after scoring 8 runs on one ball. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who scored a half-century, once again got off to a fast start, but he could not convert his start into a big score and returned after scoring 20 runs in 9 balls.
Ishan Kishan and captain Shreyas Iyer then put on a brilliant partnership of 64 runs as both looked good, but Iyer was sent back for 25. Kishan continued his explosive innings and scored a half-century in 31 balls and was out after scoring 81 runs.
Before getting out, he stitched an amazing partnership of 94 runs with Tilak Verma as both the left-handed batsmen were hitting the ball hard. Tilak remained unbeaten on 60 off 29 balls, and small contributions from Rinku Singh and Shivam Dubey helped India post a decent score of 219/5 in 20 overs.
Zimbabwe’s batsmen fell like nine pins
While chasing, Sikandar Raza’s team got a great start from Brian Bennett as he looked aggressive right from the start of the innings and scored 32 runs off 19 balls before being dismissed by debutant Yash Thakur.
After Bennett’s dismissal, Zimbabwe’s other batsmen fell like nine pins as they were reduced to 5/65, with captain Sikandar Raza also out for a duck. India’s bowlers overpowered Chevron’s batsmen and dismissed them on the score of 129 runs. Abhishek Sharma took three wickets.
“Ishan has done this very regularly and consistently” – Sikandar Raza praised Ishan Kishan
Sikandar Raza gave credit to his bowlers as he felt they bowled well in patches, congratulated India on their series win, and also mentioned that Ishan Kishan was excellent at No. 3 for the team.
After the match, Raza said, “I thought the boys bowled well in patches, credit goes to India for that. Some of the shots, some of the skill from the Indians were worthy of praise. Our fielding could have been better.”
“Ishan has done that regularly and consistently and he is going through that phase as well. He and Tilak batted really well and, like I said, the skill they have and what they showed us today is something we can learn from. Hopefully, it will help us improve as well.”
“There is definitely something to learn and hopefully it will help us improve. As a captain I am letting the team down with the bat. I will try my best in the next game.”
