Zimbabwe Captain Sikandar Raza was unhappy with how the pitch performed after the team’s loss in the first T20I against India on July 23. After being asked to bat first, Zimbabwean batters faced the heat from Indian pacers, who produced a scintillating show at the Harare Sports Club.
Mayank Yadav picked two quick wickets, and Prince Yadav and Shivam Dube picked wickets as well, reducing Zimbabwe to 64/5. Then Wessly Madhevere (39), Tadiwanashe Marumani (27*) and Ryan Burl (26), helped them to a modest 125/7 in 20 overs.
In response, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hammered a 19-ball 50, while Ishan Kishan (35) and Shreyas Iyer (28*) ensured that India won the game with 7 wickets in hand in 13.2 overs, putting them ahead 1-0 in the series.
Although he acknowledged his batters' inability to hit early boundaries, Raza was dissatisfied with the pitch and thought it was not up to par.
“Again, (pitch was) not up to the standard, I think. In the morning, I think that moisture certainly played a part, but I didn’t think it was going to play a part for that long. I thought it remained tough with the new ball. Unfortunately, we didn’t hit many boundaries up front as well, so the ball stayed new, and because of that, I felt the movement off the deck made batting even tougher,” Raza stated after the first T20I.
Zimbabwe played an ODI series against Bangladesh at this same location before the India series. According to Raza, the surface held onto moisture longer against Bangladesh than it did during Thursday's first T20I.
“I thought during the Bangladesh ODI series, there was a lot of moisture, and it remained there for a long time. Whereas today, I thought the moisture was there for the first eight to ten or even 12 overs, and apart from that, when India came out to bat, the wicket was very true. So, hopefully we get a better wicket for the next game so that even when we lose the toss, it doesn’t play too big a part," he said.
Despite the loss, Raza was pleased with the performance of the lower order as they helped Zimbabwe to a decent total.
“That’s one of the positives. Marumani and Madhevere – it’s a new role as well. I thought they batted really well to give us some sort of a respectable total. We’ll take that as a positive, and hopefully the other guys can chip in as well so that we can put up a competitive total if we bat first," he said.
The second and third T20Is of the series will be played in Harare as well, on July 25 and 26.
(ANI inputs)
