Zimbabwe v India 2016– Tour Review

With the tours to the Southern African nation of Zimbabwe, the BCCI aims to provide the budding domestic cricketers in India, some amount of exposure to international cricket. Undoubtedly the players deserve these chances as many of them have been waiting on the fringes of international cricket for far too long.

Their domestic stats speak immensely of their talent and yet at the end of the day, the team has to send its 11 best players onto the field leaving behind some deserving youngsters to warm the bench. Nevertheless, the chosen lot of select professionals seen as the future of Indian cricket were slotted together in this second string side for the tour of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s coaching staff were visibly unhappy with this tactic but none more so than head coach Makhaya Ntini who promised that his team will bury their Indian counterparts under the carpet forcing BCCI to rethink its decision of sending a second-string team to Zimbabwe. The tall claims backfired and the ODI series was no less than a cakewalk for this young Indian team.

ODI series:

The ODI series kicked off in Zimbabwe cricket’s preferred destination – The Harare Sports Club. The team sitting in the Zimbabwe dugout seemed to be buckling under the pressure imposed by their head coach’s tall claims before the start of the series. This coupled with the systematic ruin of Zimbabwe cricket over the years and one wonders how they still manage to take the field as a unit each time.

Also check out – 5 Memorable moments from India’s tour of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s batting line-up boasts of hard hitting and experienced batsmen like Hamilton Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura who have the experience of more than 350 matches between them. Vusi Sibanda, Chamu Chibhabha, Sikander Raza and Malcolm Waller are also experienced campaigners and yet the batting line-up of Zimbabwe looked in disarray and prone to a middle order collapse as we saw in the 2nd ODI where a reasonably promising 106 for 3 turned into 126 all out. The 3rd ODI topped it all as Zimbabwe lost their last 7 wickets for 19 runs which saw them bundled out for 123 in the space of 42 overs handing yet another easy run-chase to the Indians.

Their woes were further plagued by the absence of Sean Williams and Craig Ervine who had to miss some of the matches due to injuries. In all the 3 ODIs, Zimbabwe batted first and the results were far from promising as the team came nowhere close to playing its full quota of 50 overs except in the first ODI. Zimbabwe scored 168 in the first, 126 in the second and 123 in the third. Their bowling looked promising at the start of the innings but with the Indian batsmen in no hurry, it was simply too hard for them and they handed out easy victories to the tourists.

With their vulnerability exposed, the hosts need to start focusing on playing scoring and yet protective shots, preferably grounded. The seasoned campaigners undoubtedly need to step up their game. The most daunting task facing Zimbabwe is its low skill level and upgrading itself to a wide range of technical and mental capabilities to face teams like India in the future.

The T20I series:

Suffering a serious drubbing from an A-list nation at your home ground is not easy. Add to this the anguish expressed by Zimbabwe fans and supporters and we can say that coming back from the dead and rising up to the challenge in T20I series was highly unexpected from this team which played with slumped shoulders all through the ODI series.

Also check out – Infographic: Stats and records from the Zimbabwe v Indian T20I series

Zimbabwe struck gold in the first T20I. Hamilton Masakadza blasted his way to 25 of just 15 balls to give his team a good start. The run rate seemed to slow down after that and with the wicket of Sikander Raza, it seemed like the ODI series will repeat itself. Enter Elton Chigumbura and the game changed dramatically. Chigumbura gave a perfect gift to his wife on her birthday as he went on to score 54 off 26 and Zimbabwe reached 170 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs. India was finally in a competitive situation and took on the task head on. They stumbled somewhere in the middle and yet the last over equation was favorable for the tourists as MS Dhoni was on the crease.

Dhoni faltered here as Madziva confused him with wide of the off stump Yorkers and Zimbabwe scripted history. The scenes of celebration were like they had won the world cup and yet the importance of this victory was understandable.

The 2nd T20I displayed the same vulnerability of Zimbabwe as they were restricted to 99/9 and India got an easy victory. The third T20I commenced with the Zimbabwe bowlers bowling their hearts out coming close to the remote possibility of winning the series. India finished at 138/6 of their 20 overs and the hosts had a chance of scripting pandemonium at the Harare Sports Club but couldn’t finish things and fell three runs short.

India won the series but Zimbabwe won some sense of pride and maybe regained some lost faith from its supporters. Maybe! Nevertheless, the fact that this was a second string team from India may be a wake-up call for Zimbabwe’s team administration and they might start wondering how they might fare against the full strength team.

Also read – Best XI of the Zimbabwe v India T20I series

Ntini faces a daunting challenge:

If the past is anything to go by, Ntini’s stint as head coach of this team may not last long because of Zimbabwe cricket’s habit of frequent change in the administration. He may though get an enhanced role to play with the team’s bowlers and with the limited promise the bowlers have shown, Ntini may, in fact, have something to work on and look forward to.

Zimbabwe has a bunch of young fast bowlers, though inexperienced, they demonstrated their ability to step up as they bowled in good areas in the ODI series and played a part in restricting the Indian team in the T20 series. Zimbabwe’s Brian Vitori who’s debut had made a rage a few years ago can also be expected to return to the field soon as his action has been cleared by the ICC. All the best MakhayaNtini !!

How much does a good performance in Zimbabwe count?

KL Rahul is an elegant batsman with free flowing stroke play. He is one of the 9 Indian players who got a taste of international cricket on this tour and yet, one has to ask whether a good performance here is anything to boast of. KL Rahul made an impressive start to his limited overs career on this tour.

He is being touted as a future regular in India’s Test lineup and yet, chasing small targets against a self-destructing Zimbabwe with minimal pressure and one wonders how much the Indian batsmen have really achieved. Faiz Fazal made his debut here at the age of 30. He made the most of it and scored a half-century but do we see him being given an opportunity in the future? Seems unlikely!

Zimbabwe’s dipping fortunes:

Zimbabwe cricket today is estimated to under a debt of 19 million USD. The sad part is that this is not even breaking news! A nationwide cash crisis and poor and irregular monsoons have been plaguing the country and the repercussions are starting to bite Zimbabwe cricket. The changing nature of international cricket has increased the stakes of each bilateral series and the frequent losses see the team slipping down the ranks.

Playing Test cricket may sound like a distant dream for Zimbabwe which might have to go through the qualification stage for the 2019 World Cup. The anguish of the team’s fans over Zimbabwe’s dismal performances looks like the nail in the coffin, placards saying that the Zimbabwe cricketers should be jailed and tried for treason have been seen in the stadium and perpetually empty stadiums are a sign of the loss of faith in Zimbabwe’s cricket team.

The newly appointed coaches might be facing a reality check here and wondering what they’ve got themselves into. Coupled with the team’s current dismal state is the coach’s worry about job security and the length of his tenure because if the past is anything to go by, a few more series defeats and we might be looking at another shift of power.

Written by Harshit Rakheja