Zimbabwe's Sikander Raza Cries Foul; Labels Harare Pitch as 'Not Upto Standard' After Loss vs India

Zimbabwe vs India: Following the humiliating seven-wicket loss against India in the opening T20I, Zimbabwe's captain Sikander Raza made a bold statement. As per Raza, the Harare strip was 'not upto standard'. He claimed that when Zimbabwe were batting the pitch had more moisture which made life difficult for the batters. He also reckoned that the strip got better as the game progressed.

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‘Not up to the standard I think’

"Again, not up to the standard I think. In the morning, I think that moisture certainly played a part, but I didn't think it was going to play a part for that long. I thought it remained tough with the new ball. Unfortunately, we didn't hit many boundaries up front as well, so the ball stayed new, and because of that, I felt the movement off the deck made batting even tougher," Raza said at the post-match presentation. 

"That's one of the positives. Marumani and Madhevere - it's a new role as well. I thought they batted really well to give us some sort of a respectable total. We'll take that as a positive, and hopefully the other guys can chip in as well so that we can put up a competitive total if we bat first," he said while praising his players for the fight they showed. 

Meanwhile, India defeated Zimbabwe by seven wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series at the Harare Sports Club, with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashing a blistering 18-ball 50 to help the visitors chase down 126 in just 13.2 overs.

Mayank Yadav was India's standout bowler, finishing with figures of 2 wickets for 18 runs in four overs, while Prince Yadav also claimed two wickets for 19 runs. Ravi Bishnoi and Shivam Dube picked up one wicket each.