Harare: Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza expressed his elation on the 13-run win over the young Indian team in the first T20I of the series and asserted that their job is not done yet.
India captain Sikandar Raza won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first. Indian bowlers responded well to their skipper’s call and restricted the opponents to 115/9 in 20 overs. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi returned with the career-best figures of 4-13 while Washington Sundar got two scalps.
In reply, India suffered early hiccups in the powerplay and were 22/4 after five overs. Things turned from bad to worse after Gill’s wicket as Washington Sundar was the lone designated batter at the crease with more than 60 runs needed to reach the target. In the end, Zimbabwe bowled out India for 102 in 19.5 overs and took the 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Tendai Chatara and Raza bagged three wickets each for the hosts. The latter won Player of the Match for also putting up 17 runs with the bat.
“Feel really happy about the win. Need to take one game at a time. The job is not done, series is not over,” Raza said after the match.
The Zimbabwe captain feels that India will bounce back strong from here while crediting bowlers from both sides for their exceptional performance.
“World champions play like world champions so we need to be ready for the next game. This isn’t a wicket where you get bowled out for 115. Credit to the bowlers on both sides. Clearly an indication we need to up our skills. I said I didn’t care about the result as long as we could be true to the crowd and changing room, we had our plans, we stuck to them and we backed our guys.
“Our catching and ground fielding were amazing but we did make some errors, which shows there’s room for improvement. We knew the fans would lift us up and give us energy, credit to them, it helped us,” he added.
The second T20I between India and Zimbabwe will be played at the same venue Sunday.
IANS