Pakistan cricketing legend Ramiz Raja calls 'one-sided' games against Zimbabwe a 'joke'

Former Pakistan player Ramiz Raja Monday slammed countries for playing "one-sided" matches against Zimbabwe. Raja said that such one-sided matches would force spectators and fans to switch to other sports, including football. Raja went on to suggest that Zimbabwe should stop playing Test cricket for some time and focus on white-ball cricket. The former cricketer said that such one-sided matches are a poor advertisement for the longest format of the game. 

"Some people are of opinion that weak teams should not look at the scorecard when they are playing against the top teams because they get to learn a lot of things. How stronger teams go on with their game, what is the process behind their thinking, how do they adapt to different situations? But Zimbabwe has learned nothing from the ongoing Test series against Pakistan as they carried on with their poor performance in the second match by repeating the same mistakes," Raja said on his YouTube channel.

"Such mismatch series should not take place as it puts more pressure on Test cricket, which is already losing a lot of fans lately. If you show them this kind of one-sided matches they will turn off and switch to football or some other sports. Three-day Test match is a joke,” Raja added. 

Pak crushes Zimbabwe

Pakistan and Zimbabwe recently played a three-match T20I series and a two-day Test series. While Pakistan managed to secure a narrow victory in the T20I series by 2-1, the Men in Green handed a humiliating defeat to the African side in the Test series as they won both games by an innings. Pakistan won the first Test by an innings and 426 runs and won the second by an innings and 147 runs. Pakistan crushed Zimbabwe within three days in both the matches that were supposed to last for five days. 

In the final match of the Test series, Pakistan opener Abid Ali scored a scintillating double century to help his team post a mammoth total of 510 runs. He was awarded the player of the match trophy for his incredible knock. There were three five-wicket hauls in the game, one each by Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, and Nauman Ali. 

(Image Credit: PTI/AP)