The Chevrons

[Perfect1979]

Going to be my first time writing about a save game on ICC, was a keen player of the earlier editions of the game, back in the days before 20/20 cricket (I am a old fashioned 5 day test man!). Had a memorable save game with what must have been the best generations of players Zimbabwe every had - Flower brothers, Goodwin, Streak, Strang and the rest of that era - can still happily remember putting 600 on England at Lords on my way to a innings victory and a series win.

Obviously a lot has changed in Zimbabwean cricket since then (mostly for the worse) and I am not going to have the same talent to coach, we also will not have the World Test Championships, however our goal will be to try and get Zimbabwean cricket back to respectability. We currently sit 10th in Test rankings, and 11th for ODI & T20. First up will be a 5 match T20 series (going to have to learn quickly about this format in the game) away to Bangladesh, who are ranked 9th.

Hopefully an enjoyable save ahead.

[Perfect1979]

Zimbabwe Squad for Bangladesh T20 Tour

Batsmen
Tinashe Kamunhukamwe - Mashonaland - 28
Alistair Frost - Southern Rocks - 25
Brian Bennett - Manicaland - 21

Wicketkeepers
Tadiwanashe Marumani - Mashonland - 21
Joylord Gumbie - Manicaland - 28

All Rounders
Ryan Burl - LS - Rhinos - 29
Sikandar Raza (C) - OS - Northamptonshire - 37
Sean Williams - SLA - Matabeleland - 37
William Mashinge - RFM - Southern Rocks - 27
Eric Ncube - RFM - Matabeleland - 28
George Shoko - SLA - Matabeleland - 24

Bowlers
Richard Ngarava - LFM - Mashonaland - 26
Blessing Mwzarabani - RMF - Southern Rocks - 27
Ainsley Ndlovu - SLA - Matabeland - 28
Siphele Phiri - RFM - Manicaland - 33

Raza captains the side, 2 potential T20 debutants (Frost & Gumbie). Squad is heavy on all rounders and think will need Raza (ranked no10 in T20 all rounder rankings), Williams and Burl to devliver both sides of the game to have a chance. Worried about lack of pace in my attack (if I am right in thinking that in game RMF is faster than RFM and if it is then why???)

Last time Zimbabwe played T20 cricket out in Bangladesh was 2020 losing series 2-0

[Perfect1979]

1st T20 @ Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka

Bangladesh XI: L Das, A Haque, N Hossain, T Hridoy, A Hossain, S Al Hasan, M Mahmudullah, M Hasan, T Ahmed, S Islam, M Rahman
Zimbabwe XI: T Marumani, A Frost, B Bennett, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, E Ncube, A Ndlovu, B Muzarabani, R Ngarava

Zimbabwe won toss and elected to bat.

Zimbabwe 157/5 (20 Overs) T Marumani 63, S Raza 44, A Frost 21 / T Ahmed 2-39, M Hasan 1-19, S Al Hasan 1-25
Bangladesh 158/9 (17.5 overs) A Haque 86, S Al Hasan 20, L Das 18 / R Ngarava 3-25, S Raza 3-40, Williams 2-19

Bangladesh won by 1 wicket - Man of the Match A Haque

An excting game under the lights in Dhaka had the hosts worried, 9 wickets down and still 10 runs required for the win. However M Hasan held his nerve to steer Bangladesh home to take a 1-0 lead in the 5 match series. Zimbabwe batted out there 20 overs for loss of just 5 wickets and all batsmen hitting a strike rate of at least a 100 with the exception of S Williams who made a 19 ball 7!! Openers T Marumani and debutant A Frost got us off to a solid start and captain S Raza raised the tempo when he took over from Williams. Total always looked like it would be not enough with Bangladesh starting there innings with almost 90% win chance. With opener A Haque smacking his 86 off just 42 balls we looked well out of it, but twice we picked up 2 wickets in 2 balls (R Ngarava and S Williams both having a chance of a hat trick) and captain S Raza also took 2 wickets in one over. In the end we just ran out of runs.

Happy with how first match went - to not get bowled out and take hosts to there last man (and we had a shout for LBW turned down as well). I think on batting side need to see if Williams slow scoring rate is going to be a trend and if so may need to move him down the order but he more than made up for it in his 4 overs with 2 wickets and a economy rate of just 4.75. Bowling wise delighted with Ngarava he looked dangerous and was not to expensive at 6.25 an over, our spinners looked dangerous but Williams apart also expensive and Ndlovu had a nightmare with 19 off his one over. Hopefully the innings by Haque is not a sign of things to come - if there opener is scoring at a rate of over 200 we aint going to win much.

Point of interest: Alistair Frost made his T20 international debut

[Perfect1979]

2nd T20 @ Bir Shrestho Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Cricket Stadium, Chattogram

Bangladesh XI: L Das, A Haque, N Hossain, T Hridoy, A Hossain, S Al Hasan, M Mahmudullah, M Hasan, M Hasan, S Islam, M Rahman
Zimbabwe XI: T Marumani, A Frost, B Bennett, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, E Ncube, A Ndlovu, B Muzarabani, R Ngarava

The hosts made one change bringing in all rounder M Hasan for bowler T Ahmed despite his 2 wickets in first match. Zimbabwe name unchanged XI

Zimbabwe won toss and elected to bat

Zimbabwe 110/9 (20 Overs) S Raza 38, S Williams 19, A Frost 13 / S Islam 3-13, M Rahman 3-39, M Hasan 1-17
Bangladesh 114/6 (17.1 Overs) L Das 44no, A Haque 19, A Hossain 15 / R Burl 3-6, S Williams 2-32, S Raza 1-33

Bangladesh won by 4 wickets - Man of the Match S Islam

On a wicket where runs were hard to come by, Zimbabwe's failure to see there batting come to light at any point meant there was never going to be enough runs on the board for them to defend. The Bangladesh bowlers while not particulary dangerous (4 wickets fell in the last 8 balls) they used the pitch to strangle the life out of the Zimbabwean's with only captain S Raza putting up a decent effort with 38 (which took 38 balls to get there), S Islam conceeded only 13 runs from his 4 overs to go with those 3 wickets. Zimbabwe's bowlers showed fight taking 6 wickets and not letting anyone other than L Das make much impact on the scoreboard but with such a measly total to defend the task was always likely to be to much for them.

Really disappointed in our batting performance, Williams again failed to turn the scoreboard over quick enough and strongly considering moving him down the order, again we survived the 20 overs that gives us hope but we really struggled on that wicket. On the positive side the bowlers made a fight of it with our spinners again doing the damage and they improved somewhat on there economy rate and Burl really showed up with the ball taking 3-6 of 2.1 overs. Overall its not looking promising in terms of the series but goal is to avoid a whitewash and fingers crossed we will not return to Chattogram any time soon!

[Perfect1979]

3rd T20 @ Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka

Bangladesh XI: L Das, A Haque, N Hossain, T Hridoy, A Hossain, S Al Hasan, M Mahmudullah, M Hasan, M Hasan, S Islam, M Rahman
Zimbabwe XI: T Marumani, A Frost, B Bennett, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, E Ncube, W Mashinge, B Muzarabani, R Ngarava

Bangladesh name a unchanged side. One change for Zimbabwe see's all rounder W Mashinge come in for spinner A.Ndlovu

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl.

Zimbabwe 96/7 (20 Overs) S Williams 21, A Frost 18, E Ncube 14 / M Hasan 4-19, S Al Hasan 2-10, S Islam 1-27
Bangladesh 97/2 (9.2 Overs) A Haque 43, L Das 35, N Hossain 17no / Williams 1-15

Bangladesh won by 8 wickets - Man of the Match M Hasan

After the first 2 matches being played under the lights, the 3rd was played in the full glare of the Dhaka sun and Zimbabwe welted horribly. Yet again the Bangladesh bowlers managed to strange the life out of the batsman on a slow wicket. Only 2 Zimbabwean batters had a strike rate above 100 (our last 2 batters) and just to sum up how awful we batted in the last over supposedly throwing caution to the win we scored 2 runs. In reply Bangladesh smashed the ball to all parts making the Zimbabwe attack look totally toothless. A 3-0 series lead for the home side and on this form only a fool would not back on them to whitewash the series.

Was a hugely embarrasing performance on both sides of the ball, will give the bowlers the benefit of the doubt after 2 decent showings prior and the fact they had no runs to play with. Batting however is horrific and on a slow wicket we just cannot score runs.

[Perfect1979]

4th T20 @ Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka

Bangladesh XI: L Das, A Haque, N Hossain, T Hridoy, A Hossain, S Al Hasan, M Mahmudullah, M Hasan, M Hasan, S Islam, M Rahman
Zimbabwe XI: T Marumani, A Frost, T Kamunhukamwe, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, E Ncube, W Mashinge, B Muzarabani, R Ngarava

No changes once again for Bangladesh, while for Zimbabwe B Bennett is dropped after 3 disappointing innings with T Kamunhukamwe coming in at no3

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl

Zimbabwe 124/9 (20 Overs) S Williams 46, T Marumani 31 / M Hasan 4-34, S Islam 2-20, S Al Hasan 1/21
Bangladesh 125/4 (14.2 Overs) A Haque 34, A Hossain 32no, L Das 28 / S Raza 1-27, S Williams 1-37

Bangladesh won by 6 wickets and lead the series 4-0 - Man of the Match M Hasan

Back under the lights for the 4th T20 match and Zimbabwe look like they just want to get on plane back home, the Zimbabwean innings taking a familar feel to it, runs at a premium, most batsmen not even reaching a 100 strike rate. Williams top scored with 46 before getting himself run out and other than opener Marumani putting 31 on the board the rest of batting line up failed horrifically. As for the Bangladesh batsmen, safe in the knowledge that they were once again facing a small target they could throw caution to the win smashing the Zimbabwean pace bowlers out the game within 2 overs. If it was not for 2 run outs victory would have no doubt been even more emphatic.

Once again our batting could not score runs on a slow wicket against discplined bowling, Williams has at least improved but their is no way to sugar coat how bad our batting has been. Our bowlers are truely demoralised and took a real pounding especially our pace bowlers. With very little hope left we will give our remaining squad players a run out for the 5th game and then go home to lick our wounds.

Point of Interest - S Raza with 63 wickets become the leading wicket taker for Zimbabwe in T20 cricket

[Perfect1979]

5th T20 @ Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka

Bangladesh XI: L Das, A Haque, N Hossain, T Hridoy, A Hossain, S Al Hasan, M Mahmudullah, M Hasan, M Hasan, S Islam, M Rahman
Zimbabwe XI: T Marumani, A Frost, J Gumbie, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, E Ncube, A Ndlovu, S Phiri, R Ngarava

No changes once more for the hosts while 3 changes for Zimbabwe in came J Gumbie, A Ndlovu & S Phiri for T Kamunhukamwe, W Mashinge & B Muzarabani

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat

Bangladesh 200/4 (20 Overs) N Hossain 79, A Haque 42, T Hridoy 41 / A Ndlovu 1-11, S Raza 1-39, S Phiri 1-24
Zimbabwe 140/6 (20 Overs) T Marumani 44, J Gumbie 27, R Burl 18 / M Rahman 2-26, S Islam 2-31, S Al Hasan 1-16

Bangladesh won by 60 runs - Man of the Match N Hossain

For the first time in the series Bangladesh would bat first but they once more came out the traps on fire and as they have done so many times in this series turned the scoreboard over at a rate of around 10 a over. The Zimbabwean attack had just no answers against the aggressive home batters. 5 overs into their reply Zimbabwe were tracking the DL par score but then as wickets fell so did any hopes of a miracle run chase. Once more a resounding win for the home side and after a competive first 2 matches the series became one sided.

Clutching at straws here but at least batting improved a bit to average 7 a over, but our bowling in the last 2 games has been just as shocking as our batting in this series. This may be a painful save!!!

Point of Interest - J Gumbie made his T20 debut

[Perfect1979]

BANGLADESH v ZIMBABWE T20 SERIES REVIEW - 3rd May 2024 to 12th May 2024

Bangladesh win series 5-0

1st T20 - Dhaka - Bangladesh win by 1 wicket
2nd T20 - Chattogram - Bangladesh win by 4 wickets
3rd T20 - Dhaka - Bangladesh win by 8 wickets
4th T20 - Dhaka - Bangladesh win by 6 wickets
5th T20 - Dhaka - Bangladesh win by 60 runs

Player of the Series - S Al Hasan (Bangladesh)

Bangladesh Player Stats Zimbabwe Player Stats
A Haque 224 runs T Marumani 148 runs
L Das 149 runs S Williams 106 runs
N Hossain 114 runs S Raza 104 runs

S Islam 9 wickets S Williams 7 wickets
S Al Hasan / M Hasan 6 wickets S Raza 6 wickets
M Hasan / M Rahman 6 wickets R Burl / R Ngarava 3 wickets

S Al Hasan 4.45 econ G Shoko 5.5 econ
M Hasan 5.4 econ R Ngarava 8.25 econ
S Islam 6.2 econ S Williams 8.31 econ

Bangladesh were comprehensive winners of the series, white washing the tourists 5-0 and completely destroying the opposition in the final 3 matches. Zimbabwe had no answer for the aggressive opening pair of Haque and Das while on the other side of the ball they could not break the strangle hold that the home side were able to apply on the run rate. Next up is a home ODI series against India!!

Positives for Zimbabwe - T Marumani looked comfortable opening the innings and givng team a decent platform both in runs and scoring rate, S Williams was 2nd highest run scorer and 2nd highest wicket taker. The bowling performance in first game were we were a whisker away from a victory.

Negatives for Zimbabwe - Bowlers were expensive with the exception of 2nd match, but they totatlly fell apart from 3rd game onwards and with the Indian batsmens next up it is not going to get any easier. On the batting it was the inability to turn the scoreboard over that really hurt us - never bowled out in any of the 5 games we just could not score quick enough.

Captain Performance - S Raza - 104 runs and 6 wickets across the 5 matches but like his team was competitive in first matches both sides of the ball but then failled to deliver (along with his team) in final 3 games.

[Perfect1979]

Zimbabwe Squad for Home T20 Series against India

Batsmen
Alistair Frost - Southern Rocks - 25
Ben Curran - Rhinos - 28
Freddie MacBride - Mashonaland - 39

Wicketkeepers
Joylord Gumbie - Manicaland - 28
David Tshuma - Matabeleland - 23

All Rounders
Sean Williams - SLA - Matabeleland - 37
Sikandar Raza (c) - OS - Northamptonshire - 37
Ryan Burl - LS - Rhinos - 29
George Shoko - SLA - Matabeleland - 24
William Mashinge - RFM - Southern Rocks - 27

Bowlers
Ainsley Ndlovu - SLA - Matabeleland - 28
Siphelele Phiri - RFM - Manicaland - 33
Richard Ngarava - RFM - Mashonaland - 26
Blessing Muzarabani - RMF - Southern Rocks - 27
Victor Nyauchi - RFM - Manicaland - 31

First off turns out it is another T20 series rather than the ODI that I thought!

4 changes to squad from Bangladesh tour, 2 enforced by injuries - Marumani (our best batter in last serious) is out with back injury and Ncube misses out with a cold. Both Bennett and Kamunhukamwe are dropped. In comes batters Ben Curran (who will be making his international debut), Freddie MacBride, Keeper David Tshuma and RFM bowler Victor Nyauchi. Raza once again captains the side

India currently ranked no1 in the world (we have dropped to 12th) and come to Zimbabwe from the T20 World Cup where they lost the final to Afghanistan!

Worried how this is going to go up against the best side in the world

[Perfect1979]

1st T20 @ Queens Sports Club Ground, Bulawayo

Zimbabwe XI: J Gumbie, A Frost, F MacBride, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, A Ndlovu, V Nyauchi, R Ngarava, B. Muzarabani
India XI: Y Jaiswal, V Kohli, S Iyer, R Sharma, L Rahul, R Singh, H Pandya, R Jadeja, R Rasool, S Thakur, J Bumrah

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bowl

India 209/8 (20 Overs) R Sharma 107, V Kohli 44, R Singh 16 / R Burl 3-26, G Shoko 2-36, B Muzarabani 1-44
Zimbabwe 88/8 (20 Overs) A Frost 45, J Gumbie 29 / H Pandya 3-13, S Thakur 3-20, P Rasool 2-27

India win by 121 runs - Man of the Match R Sharma

India responded to there shock T20 World Cup final defeat to destroy Zimbabwe on both sides of the ball. Sharma hitting an explosive 107 off just 50 balls to ensure India broke the 200 barrier. In reply India's bowlers suffocated the Zimbabwean batters who could not score, the Indian bowlers bowled 76 dot balls in the innings.

Well we may be at home but it made no difference - the exact same problems follow us from the Bangladesh series we cant score runs and we cant stop runs being scored against us. In the Indian innings only Sharma and Kohli got any sort of totals but every batsman even when hitting single figures were scoring at a rate of over a 100. Bowling wise Burl and Williams did ok but everyone else had a economy rate that was in double figures. On the batting side the loss of 8 wickets is a fake picture - we never lost our first wicket until the 11th over and the remaining 7 wickets fell in last 15 balls. We just cannot turn the scoreboard over.

This was always going to be a extremely tough series against the best team in the world but already got doubts about my suitability for T20 cricket, we go to Ireland after this series but if we cant be competitive out there then think I will be resigning from T20 cricket role.

[Perfect1979]

2nd T20 @ Harare Sports Club Ground, Harare

Zimbabwe XI: J Gumbie, A Frost, B Curran, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, W Mashinge, S Phiri, R Ngarava, B. Muzarabani
India XI: Y Jaiswal, V Kohli, R Sharma, L Rahul, I Kishan, R Singh, H Pandya, R Jadeja, R Rasool, S Thakur, J Bumrah

3 changes for Zimbabwe with Curran, Mashinge and Phiri replacing MacBride, Ndlovu and Nyauchi, for India just the one change Kishan coming in for Iyer.

Zimbabwe won the toss and choose to bat.

Zimbabwe 145/5 (20 Overs) J Gumbie 38, A Frost 34, R Burl 24no / H Pandya 1-22, P Rasool 1-26, S Thakur 1-30
India 150/2 (14 Overs) Y Jaiswal 81no, L Rahul 25no, V Kohli 25 / Williams 1-43

India win by 8 wickets - Man of the Match Y Jaiswal
India lead series 2-0

Zimbabwe batting first this time managed to at last score some runs , scoring at just over 7 runs an over which was a huge improvement on the first match. Again the opening partnership put on 50 runs but this time at a better rate and at least we had something to bowl at However India had other ideas and again were scoring at over 10 runs a over (had 31 after the first 2) and mix in with that Zimbabwe could not take wickets any hope of a close game was blown away, Jaiswal not out on 81 off 49 balls.

Much happier with how we performed with the bat so hopefully something to build on there, bowling however continues to get worse - only Burl and Phiri had a economy rate below 10, we could only take 1 wicket (Kohli got ran out). Giving in all 7 matches we have played so far this year we conceed at 10 runs a over so our only hope is to be expensive but take wickets yet over the 2 games in this series we have managed only 8 wickets with 2 run outs.

Point of Interest - Ben Curran made his Zimbabwe debut.

[Perfect1979]

3rd T20 @ Queens Sports Club Ground, Bulawayo

Zimbabwe XI: J Gumbie, A Frost, B Curran, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, W Mashinge, V Nyauchi, S Phiri, R Ngarava
India XI: Y Jaiswal, V Kohli, R Sharma, L Rahul, I Kishan, R Singh, H Pandya, R Jadeja, S Thakur, M Shami, J Bumrah

Both sides make 1 change each, Nyauchi coming in for Muzarabani for the host while Shami comes in for Rasool for the Indian's

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat

Zimbabwe 137/8 (20 Overs) B Curran 25, S Williams 21 G Shoko 16 / R Jadeja 2-10, H Pandya 2-21, J Bumrah 2-33
India 138/5 (15.2 Overs) I Kishan 45no, R Sharma 39, R Singh 20 / R Ngarava 2-34, S Williams 1-20, V Nyauchi 1-23

India win by 5 wickets - Man of the Match I Kishan
India lead series 3-0

India wrapped up the series with a 5 wicket victory in Bulawayo but Zimbabwe put up a fight. For once the Chevrons batters brought some fireworks to the crease and came out of the powerplay with a run rate of 9.5, Curran hitting 25 from 10 balls highlighting the new found urgency in the home side batting but when Pandya and Jadeja combined to bowl 35 dot bowls the wind was firmly taken from the sails. Zimbabwe had a few moments where they looked to have a fighting chance as the bowled well early on taking wickets and having India 4 down halfway to there target but the 5th wicket partnership between Kishan and Singh took the game firmly away from the hosts and although Singh would fall before the end India still wrapped up the series.

Progress for the Zimbabwean's, the way we started our innings was the best we have played by far and although nobody score big nobody was dragging the run rate down drastically. Bowling we got a few wickets and put down a couple of catches but at least 3 out of 6 bowlers had better economy rates (although the other 3 were in double figures). Still going to be a hard slog these next 2 games but gaining some hope for the upcoming series against Ireland.

[Perfect1979]

4th T20 @ Queens Sports Club Ground, Bulawayo

Zimbabwe XI: J Gumbie, A Frost, B Curran, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, W Mashinge, V Nyauchi, S Phiri, R Ngarava
India XI: Y Jaiswal, V Kohli, R Sharma, L Rahul, I Kishan, R Singh, H Pandya, R Jadeja, P Rasool, S Thakur, J Bumrah

Zimbabwe name unchanged team. One change for India as Rasool returns in place of Shami

India won the toss and elected to bowl

Zimbabwe 129/6 (20 Overs) S Raza 70, B Curran 22, J Gumbie 17 / J Bumrah 2-11, S Thakur 2-23, H Pandya 1-38
India 131/4 (17.5 Overs) L Rahul 37, I Kishan 26no, R Sharma 23 / S Williams 1-15, G Shoko 1-21, R Ngarava 1-33

India win by 6 wickets - Man of the Match L Rahul
India lead series 4-0

Zimbabwean captain Raza found some form at last with the bat hitting 70 runs off 49 balls which seen the hosts threaten to make a decent total but the loss of the captain saw the run rate drop again as Zimbabwe's inability to stop dot balls continuing to hurt them. India in reply lack the usually fireworks up top, with Zimbabwe's bowlers drastically improving (in most parts) there economy rate, however every India partnership put on runs and the tourist made it home with 13 balls to spare.

Some progress again - Raza's 70 is the highest score for a Zimbabwean since I took charge and again in spells our batting looked to be moving but teams seem to be able to tighten the screws on us. Bowling wise we were just more economical, 3 bowlers were under 6 per over but Raza has been destroyed with ball in hand this series and the captain will not bowl in the final match.

Point of Interest - S Raza & R Burl put on a all-time record partnership against India for Zimbabwe - they put on 51 for the 5th wicket

[Perfect1979]

5th T20 @ Queens Sports Club Ground, Bulawayo

Zimbabwe XI: J Gumbie, A Frost, B Curran, S Williams, S Raza (c), R Burl, G Shoko, W Mashinge, S Phiri, B Muzarabani, R Ngarava
India XI: Y Jaiswal, V Kohli, R Sharma, L Rahul, I Kishan, R Singh, H Pandya, R Jadeja, P Rasool, S Thakur, J Bumrah

Zimbabwe make one change to bowling attack, Muzarabani coming in for Nyauchi. India are unchanged.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first.

Zimbabwe 125/7 (20 Overs) J Gumbie 32, A Frost 31, S Williams 28 / P Rasool 3-16, S Thakur 3-31, R Jadeja 1-35
India 129/3 (14.1 Overs) Y Jaiswal 46, I Kishan 29no, R Sharma 26no / G Shoko 2-23, S Williams 1-32

India win by 7 wickets - Man of the Match Y Jaiswal
India win series 5-0

India completed there 5-0 whitewash with there bowlers doing what they have done all series bowling dot balls, Zimbabwe started well putting on 62 for first wicket but when both openers fell within 2 runs of each other and then shortly after losing 3 middle order batters in 4 balls posting any sort of total was going to be challenging. India's batters came out and started scoring at 10 an over a rate they maintained for most of the innings before dropping back slightly towards the end, despite 2 wickets for Shoko the result was never in doubt.

Finally been put out our misery but for a little bit we were looking promising, with our openers putting on runs, but we lost momentum and Williams apart our all rounders have been poor with the bat (Raza's 70 aside). Our bowlers could not take wickets or stop the runs so a hell of a lot of work to do there.

[Perfect1979]

ZIMBABWE v INDIA T20 SERIES REVIEW - 6th July 2024 to 14th July 2024

India win series 5-0

1st T20 - Bulawayo - India win by 121 runs
2nd T20 - Harare - India win by 8 wickets
3rd T20 - Bulawayo - India win by 5 wickets
4th T20 - Bulawayo - India win by 6 wickets
5th T20 - Bulawayo - India win by 7 wickets

Player of the Series - I Kishan (India)

Zimbabwe Player Stats - India Player Stats
J Gumbie 128 runs - R Sharma 207 runs
A Frost 124 runs - Y Jaiswal 155 runs
S Raza 105 runs - V Kohli 122 runs

G Shoko 5 wickets - S Thakur 11 wickets
S Williams 4 wickets - P Rasool 7 wickets
R Burl/R Ngarava 3 wickets - H Pandya 7 wickets

G Shoko 7.87 econ - J Bumrah 5.15 econ
S Williams 8.08 econ - R Jadeja 5.75 econ
R Burl 8.09 econ - H Pandya 6.05 econ

India bounced back from there disappointing World Cup final defeat to comprehensively beat Zimbabwe 5-0 in a one sided series. India's batters more often and not were scoring at a rate of 10 per over and with Zimbabwe unable to take wickets it was a stroll for the tourists. On the other side of the ball India's ability to bowl dot balls suffocated the Zimbabwe batsmen who were never able to build on the platform the opening pair made. But when the top team in the rankings play the bottom team then this is the outcome you would expect.

Positivies for Zimbabwe - Opening pair of J Gumbie and A Frost played well against a strng bowling attack they past the 50 partnership mark 3 times in series and gave us a platform.

Negatives for Zimbabwe - Once again our bowlers were smashed all round the ground, conceeding runs at over 10/over for 4 out 5 matches and to make it worse we could not take wickets. Batting we could not turn the scoreboard over with India's bowlers delivering dot ball after dot ball.

Captain Performace - S Raza - 105 runs and 1 wicket - Really poor series by the captain, other than his 70 in the 4th match he failed to deliver with the bat but his bowling was even worse - smashed so badly that he was not used at all to bowl in last match.

Big series ahead in Ireland - 1 test, 3 ODI's & 3 T20's. The Irish reach T20 World Cup semi finals and have just defeated South Africa 2-1 in ODI series. 10 matches in and record reads 0-10 and issues were the same in both series - batters cant score at a fast enough rate and bowlers can stop the other team scoring at high rate