Captain Zimbabwe Sikandar Raza hit the pitch after his team’s seven-wicket loss to India in the opening T20I of the three-match series at the Harare Sports Club. Raza said the surface had too much moisture in the beginning, making batting difficult with the new ball, while conditions became much easier when India came out to chase. India comfortably chased down 126 in 13.2 overs, fueled by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s record 18-ball half-century to take a 1-0 lead in the series.Raza felt the pitch favored the batting team second and said Zimbabwe struggled because the ball kept moving longer than expected.“Again, not up to standard, I think. In the morning, I think the humidity certainly played a role, but I didn’t think it would play a role for that time. I think it will stay tough with the new ball,” Raza said after the match.“Unfortunately, we didn’t hit a lot of boundaries in front as well, so the ball was new, and because of that, I felt the movement off the deck made batting even harder,” he added.Comparing it to Bangladesh’s recent ODI series, Raza said the wicket has become much better to bat on during India’s innings.“I think during the Bangladesh ODI series, there was a lot of humidity, and it stayed there for a long time. Whereas today, I think the humidity 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 real,” he said.
Positive despite the defeat
Zimbabwe recovered from 32/4 to post 125/7, thanks to Wessly Madhevere and Tadiwanashe Marumani. Raza praised the pair for helping the team reach a respectable total and hoped that the rest of the batting unit would contribute more in the coming matches.“So, hopefully, we have a better wicket for the next game so that even when we lose the toss, we don’t play too big,” he added.“Yes, definitely. It’s one of the positives. Marumani and Madhevere, it’s also a new role. I think they fought really well to give a sort of a respectable total. We take this as a positive, and hopefully the other guys can hit it too so we can put a competitive total if we fight first,” he said.