ZIMBABWE T20 captain Sikandar Raza says they made a lot of mistakes which cost them the five-match series which ended on Sunday against India 4-1.
Zimbabwe had a promising start into the series as they opened up with a 13 run win in the first match, only to lose the other four games by 100 runs, 23 runs, 10 wickets and 42 runs respectively.
Reflecting on the team’s performance during the tournament, Raza believes that they could have done better in some games.
“I’m always a guy who looks at the positives and there are a lot of positives.
“But I cannot keep my eyes closed to things that we can work on, and I think it’s right to admit that we have made a lot of mistakes on the field which allowed the opponents to come again and again,” said Raza.
India series was Zimbabwe’s first on home ground this year and it marked the debut for new coach Justin Sammons who was appointed last month.
Zimbabwe fielded a much younger squad which had an average age of 27 years and it is because of such reason that Raza remains optimistic.
“We have all the right ingredients to be a mid-table team.
“The team needs a little bit of love, care, nurturing and sometimes a bit of harsh words as well.
“But I think we will get there, of course, we might not have a lot of time because I have seen the fixtures for the Qualifiers, so we have to pull up our socks,” added Raza.
Zimbabwe is rebuilding ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup which is the primary target in office given to coach Justin Sammons by the national federation.
Sammons inherited the team from Dave Houghton who resigned in December last year, after failing to help the team qualify for the just-ended T20 World Cup.
In between the team was led by interim coaches Walter Chawaguta and Steward Matsikenyere who both lost tours of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively. – NewZimbabwe
