‘Job not done’ says Raza after Zimbabwe stun India in 1st T20I

Exactly a week after defeating South Africa in a thrilling final in Barbados to be crowned T20 world champions for the second time, India were in for a rude shock as they failed to chase down a target of 116 set by Zimbabwe.

By Agencies

Team India’s celebrations after their T20 World Cup triumph came to a screeching halt with a 13-run defeat against Zimbabwe in Harare on Saturday.

Exactly a week after defeating South Africa in a thrilling final in Barbados to be crowned T20 world champions for the second time and win their first ICC title in 11 years, the Indians were in for a rude shock as they failed to chase down a target of 116 set by Zimbabwe.

Not only was the result a massive boost for the Chevrons in what has largely been a gloomy year so far, with the Sikandar Raza-led side missing out on the T20 World Cup despite it being a 20-team affair, it was also India’s first defeat in T20Is this year.

As It Happened | India vs Zimbabwe, 1st T20I in Harare

India skipper Shubman Gill, who top-scored for the Men in Blue with a knock of 31 off 29 balls, felt the visitors looked a bit “rusty” on the field on Saturday and that they let themselves down on the field.

“We bowled pretty well, we let ourselves down in the field. We were not up to standard and everyone looked a bit rusty. We spoke about taking time and enjoying our batting but it didn’t pan out that way.

“Halfway through we had lost 5 wickets, would’ve been best for us if I stayed there till the end, very disappointed with the way I got out and the rest of the match panned out. There was a bit of hope for us but when you’re chasing 115 and your number 10 batter is out there, you know something is wrong,” Gill said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

His Zimbabwean counterpart Sikandar Raza, meanwhile, had played a starring role in the home team’s victory with a haul of 3/25 along with a knock of 17, and was later adjudged the Player of the Match.

Raza expressed satisfaction at Zimbabwe’s performance, but cautioned his teammates against getting complacent and expected India to come back harder in the second T20I, which gets underway in less than 24 hours’ time.

“Feel really happy about the win. Need to take one game at a time. The job is not done, series is not over. 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 of both sides. Clearly an indication we need to up our skills.

“I said I don’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 it and we backed our guys,” Raza said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Our catching and ground fielding was amazing but we did make some errors, shows there’s room for improvement. We knew the fans would lift us up and give us energy, credit to them, it helped us.”

India were without several senior players in the ongoing tour of Zimbabwe — their first assignment after the T20 World Cup triumph. While the trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja had retired from the T20I format after Saturday’s victory, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee rested other seniors such as Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel for the tour.

Gill was instead put in charge of a second string side comprising several uncapped and fringe players.