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Zimbabwe National Cricket Team captain Sikandar Raza opened up on the performance of his side in the second T20I of the three-match series against the India National Cricket Team on Saturday, July 25. India beat Zimbabwe by 90 runs to win the second game and win the series and increase the lead to 2-0.
Speaking after the loss, Sikandar Raza was not happy with the team’s fielding performance and said the team failed to execute their plans in the second T20I as well. He praised the collective effort from the players and expressed confidence that Zimbabwe would look to bounce back in the upcoming series and match as well and look to finish high.
Ishan Kishan shines for India
Sikandar Raza won the toss and opted to field first. They did not make any changes from their loss in the first game, while the Men in Blue side handed Yash Thakur his maiden cap as the pacer replaced Ashok Sharma, who made his debut in the last match.
Invited to bat first, Abhishek Sharma’s poor form continued as he was dismissed for a run-a-ball 8 runs. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who made a fifty, was yet again off to a breezy start, but he could not convert his start to a big score and was back after scoring 20 off 9 balls.
Then Ishan Kishan and captain Shreyas Iyer stitched a fantastic partnership of 64 runs as the two looked good, but Iyer was sent back for 25 runs. Kishan continued his blazing knock and scored a half-century in 31 deliveries as he was dismissed for 81 runs.
Before being dismissed, he had an amazing partnership with Tilak Varma of 94-runs as both the left-handed batters were striking the ball hard. Tilak was unbeaten on the score of 60 runs off 29 deliveries, and small contributions from Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube helped India to post a good total of 219/5 in 20 overs.
Zimbabwe batters fell like nine pins
While chasing, Sikandar Raza’s side had a brilliant start in the form of Brian Bennett as he looked fiery from the very start of the innings and scored 32 runs off 19 deliveries before being dismissed by the debutant Yash Thakur.
After Bennett was dismissed, the other Zimbabwe batters fell like nine pins as they were reduced to 5/65 captain Sikandar Raza also being dismissed for a duck. India's bowlers were all over the Chevrons' batters as they were bowled out for the score of 129 runs. Abhishek Sharma picked three wickets.
"Ishan has done that quite regularly and consistently"- Sikandar Raza praises Ishan Kishan
Sikandar Raza credited his bowlers as he feels they bowled well in patches, congratulated India for their series win, and also mentioned that Ishan Kishan was excellent at No.3 for the side.
Raza, after the match, said, "I thought the boys bowled well in patches, credit to India. Some the shots, some the skill from the Indians were something to admire. Our fielding could have been better."
"Ishan has done that quite regularly and consistently as well and he is going through that patch 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'll help us improve as well. "
"Certainly something to learn from and hopefully it will help us become better. I as a captain have been letting the team down with the bat. I will try my best in the next game."
