Brendan Taylor and his men went down without a fight to Pakistan in the format in which they were supposed to have the best chance of causing an upset. Zimbabwe lost both Twenty20 internationals by considerable margins, their batsmen falling to the Pakistan spinners, who took a combined 4 for 67 and 5 for 75 in the two matches.
Questions have arisen to the effect that, If they couldn't compete with Pakistan for 40 overs, what chance do they stand over 100 overs?
"They played better cricket, l think we should have taken our chances as well. But that's the game of cricket for you, If you dont take your chances you loose" said a visibly dissapointed Taylor in a post match interview after the last T20 match on Saturday.
An agreement has been reached between the players and the Zimbabwe Cricket, however the truth of the matter remains; games need to be played and won.If not for anything for the patient cricket followers in Zimbabwe. Assuming money won't come around from ZC, this should not stop Taylor and his men from putting up a fight.
'We love this game, we will do it for the love of it. our supporters deserve something special and we will try to bring something special for them this time around. Pakistan is a big team but we are ready for the ODI series" he added.
"We have reached an agreement with the administration so now its back to the main business of the game, which is to try win matches" he said.
In the most recent five matches Pakistan have won three matches, tied one match and lost one match while their hosts Zimbabwe lost all their last five outings to cricket Power House and recently crowned ICC Champions India. Zimbabwe's leading batsman and captain, Brendan Taylor needs to take his side at this juncture to the promised land, with both words as a leader and deeds with the bat. He will be banking on seasoned campaigners like Vusi Sibanda, Hamilton Masakadza, Shikandar Razza Butt and possibly Sean Williams to do the job for him with the bat. Tendai Chatara, Brian Vitori, Shingi Masakadza and Mike Chinouya will be his best bet with the faster deliveries although they are still subject to selection. Prosper Utseya will lead the spinners who might include Tino Mutombodzi and Natsai Mushangwe.
Pakistan on the other hand will see Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Rehman and Asad Shafiq being the only additions to the Pakistan squad for the ODIs in place of Sohail Tanvir, Zulfiqar Babar and Sohaib Maqsood.
Zimbabwe (possible) 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Brendan Taylor(capt), 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Sikhandar Razza, 5 Sean Williams, 6 Malcolm Waller, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Tendai Chatara, 10 Brian Vitori, 11 Tino Muombodzi
Pakistan (possible) 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Asad Shafiq/Umar Amin, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Saeed Ajmal, 9 Asad Ali/Abdur Rehman, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Mohammad Irfan
No comments:
Post a Comment