Online Reporter
ZIMBABWE captain Sikandar Raza said the Chevrons were feeling the pain after a sensational collapse saw them post their lowest T20I total and crash by 10 wickets to Pakistan at Queens yesterday.
Pakistan have now won the three-match series 2-0 with a game to play.
The Chevrons collapsed from 37/0 to 57 all out and Pakistan powered to victory without losing a wicket. Once the openers were separated, those who followed had no clue to the wiles and guiles of Sufiyan Muqeem who weaved his magic to finish with barely believable figures of 5/3 in 2.4 overs.
The batting collapses are happening far too frequently for Raza and his men.
He had challenged his men to rose to the occasion but, after a good start, they collapsed.
“We are all hurting and we are all in a pretty bad place,” said Raza.
“But we have got 36 hours to bounce back. We can stay in the moment for now but that won’t win us the next game. We still have a desire to beat Pakistan.
“It was quite a poor performance today, but we still want to beat Pakistan before they go home.”
He talked about how to tackle spin.
“Again you have to upskill yourself, it is tough in a way, you have to look at the surface and the opposition, there is time when you have to grind, there is time when you have to soak it up.
“You cannot have powerhitters all the way.
“But what we ask from everyone is that this is a young side, the more we play the more we learn, Pakistan are a quality side and it is not easy.
“But what we have to ask are people learning if we keep making the same mistakes? People need to take a hard look at themselves and come up with answers.”
Salman Ali Agha, the Pakistan captain, said:
“That’s how we want to play, we don’t want to play how the toss goes. We are a quality side. If we bat first we can win the game, if we bowl first we can win the game.
“The way the youngsters are performing is heartening and good to see.
“The way Sufiyan and Abrar bowled today is outstanding. I’m very happy and the team is very happy. We have not won a T20I series recently, we did not win the T20I series in Australia, we wanted to win here. We want to continue like this in the upcoming series as well.”– Sports Reporter/Cricbuzz
daniel chigunwe
