Well done, Zimbabwe! It took a while to come, but when it finally arrived the Harare Sports Club was left buzzing. The Zimbabwe supports were seen singing and dancing as the hosts defeated India in the 2nd T20.
Sikandar Raza, who wore captain’s armband in the absence of Elton Chigumbura, marshaled his troops to perfection and used his resources wisely to help Zimbabwe register a 10-run win over India to level the two-match series 1-1.
When Zimbabwe posted 145 on the board, after electing to bat first, it was always going to be tough for the Indians to chase the target on slow-low Harare pitch.
Raza knew it, he used his slow bowlers wisely and saved his and Christoper Mpofu’s overs till the very last and the gamble paid off. But, it wasn’t only the death bowling, but the way Zimbabwe knotted India in the middle overs.
It was Graeme Cremer, who brought India on the knees, when he dismissed Murali Vijay and Manish Pandey in a space of four balls. Later, he got rid of well-set Stuart Binny to bring curtains on India’s fightback.
Taurai Muzarabani and Mpofu bowled with a lot of heart and landed yorkers at will, while fielders, leaving a couple of instances, were on their toes.
Zimbabwe managed three run outs – Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – in the game. Rahane was dismissed in the first over, while Jadhav’s wicket put match into Zimbabwe’s grasp.
“It was my first game as captain for Zimbabwe, great honour and the team out there made me feel welcome and the fans made their support felt,” Raza said. “We knew we were 10-15 runs short.”
“Basic errors cost us, but like we said our poor run had to come to the end and it came today. I just said if we save one run every over, at the end we would have saved 20 runs.”
“Try to contribute like that and at the end we would come out well,” he concluded. “Everything has to come to an end, and now we hope we can win more games for Zimbabwe and give the fans something to cheer about.”
Earlier, it was Chamu Chibhabha, who anchored Zimbabwe innings, despite losing wickets at the other end throughout the innings.
Chibhabha made his fourth T20 fifty and also guided Zimbabwe to a competitive total, despite some fine death bowling from Mohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
