By Zim Sport Live Writer
Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza said the Harare Sports Club pitch was “not up to the standard” after his side slumped to a seven-wicket defeat against India in the opening match of the three-match T20 International series on Thursday.
Zimbabwe recovered from 32-4 to post 125-7, but India eased to victory in 13.2 overs, powered by 15-year-old sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s record-breaking 18-ball half-century, to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Raza felt the surface offered excessive assistance to the seamers early on, making batting difficult before becoming considerably easier during India’s chase.
“Again, not up to the standard, I think,” Raza said at the post-match presentation.
“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.”
The Zimbabwe skipper contrasted Thursday’s conditions with those during the recent one-day international series against Bangladesh, saying the pitch became far more batting-friendly once India began their innings.
“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 10, or even 12 overs, and apart from that, when India came out to bat, the wicket was very true.”
Raza said he hoped for a more even contest when the teams meet again.
“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.”
Despite the defeat, Raza took encouragement from the partnership between Wessly Madhevere and Tadiwanashe Marumani, who helped rebuild the innings after Zimbabwe’s early collapse.
“That’s one of the positives,” he said.
“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.”
Zimbabwe will look to level the series when the second T20I is played at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.