By Zim Sport Live Writer
Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza admitted his side “didn’t deserve to win” after a poor fielding performance laid the foundation for Bangladesh’s 34-run victory in the second T20 International at Queens Sports Club on Friday.
The defeat levelled the three-match series after Zimbabwe dropped seven catches, allowing Bangladesh to post 186-5 before the hosts were dismissed 34 runs short in their chase.
Milton Shumba endured a difficult evening, putting down four chances, while Brad Evans and Dion Myers also spilled catches as Bangladesh capitalised on Zimbabwe’s generosity.
“If I had to sum it up, to be honest with you, as a captain, I am genuinely embarrassed to be here,” Raza said at the post-match presentation.
“The way we fielded, it had a ripple effect into our batting after that.”
Bangladesh’s opening pair of Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Saif Hassan shared a 120-run stand, but Raza felt Zimbabwe remained in the contest until their fielding errors proved too costly.
“After the opening partnership, I didn’t think the game had gone away from us as much as we fielded the way we fielded. I thought we were still winning,” he said.
Although Zimbabwe briefly threatened to pull the game back, Raza insisted his side’s display in the field meant they were not worthy winners regardless of the eventual target.
“Honestly, to sum up our performance, I think we dropped catches even in the last over. That just sums up how poor we were on the field,” he said.
“A target of 160 or 165 would have been different, but I think we didn’t deserve to win. Even with 165, we didn’t deserve to win.”
Zimbabwe bowling consultant Quinton Friend echoed his captain’s frustration, saying the missed chances changed the course of the match despite his bowlers creating enough opportunities.
“When you drop five catches in that short space of time, you’re probably under pressure straight away,” Friend said.
“You hold on to those chances and it’s a totally different ball game. I thought we actually did really good work. We created chances, unfortunately those went down.”
Friend believed Zimbabwe had done well to claw their way back into the contest after Bangladesh’s flying start, with the visitors reaching 119 without loss after 15 overs.
“We actually did an exceptional job to pull it back,” he said. “You’re thinking if you could hold them to 160 or 165, you’ve got a really good chance.”
Instead, Mohammad Saifuddin’s unbeaten 31 from just 10 balls, featuring four sixes, helped Bangladesh finish strongly after Brad Evans conceded 28 runs in the final over.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t deal with that pressure well enough towards the back end of the innings,” Friend said. “Twenty-eight off the last over is a bit of a killer.”
Despite Shumba’s difficult outing, Friend refused to single him out for criticism.
“It’s not about dropping catches on purpose, but we have to be better,” he said.
“We have to be better as a group when it comes to fielding because that’s the make or break when you’re wanting to win T20 internationals.”