ZIM vs IND 2024: Dropping catches certainly hurt us – Sikandar Raza after loss in 2nd T20I

Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza admitted that dropping catches certainly hurt them after their 100-run loss against India in the second T20I at the Harare Sports Club, Harare on Sunday. The hosts dropped four catches during India’s innings as the visitors posted a par score of 234 runs on the board after electing to bat first.

The costliest drop came in the eighth over when Wellington Masakadza could not take an easy catch, giving a life to Abhishek Sharma, who was on 27 at that stage. 

Furthermore, Ruturaj Gaikwad was also dropped by Blessing Muzarabani on the first ball he faced. Brian Bennett gave one more reprieve to Gaikwad in the 16th over whereas Sharma’s catch was once again fluffed by Masakadza when the left-hander was on 77.

The drop catches went on to hurt Zimbabwe as Abhishek Sharma scored a 47-ball 100 whereas Gaikwad scored an unbeaten knock of 77 runs off 47 to help their team post an above-par score. 

On the other hand, Zimbabwe was skittled out for 134 runs as they could not come up with a collective effort.

Sikandar Raza said in the post-match presentation, “The world champions will eventually play like world champions. Dropping catches today certainly hurt us today. I expected 200 on this wicket today but they got 30 runs more. Coming into the chase, I thought it would be a close game but it wasn’t to be, the top-order didn’t fire.”

Meanwhile, Blessing Muzarabani returned with figures of 1-30 after he dismissed Shubman Gill early. 

Showering praise on the lanky pacer, Raza added, “Blessing has grown by leaps and bounds, he is very hungry and his graph will keep going up as long as he stays fit. It’s a task we have been talking about since a long time, today we came out positive and played our shots, lot of the issues occurred due to inexperience.”

The third T20I of the series will be played at the same venue on Wednesday.