Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza spoke about the positives despite losing the three-match series against India at home. The host nation didn’t win a game and was found short on all fronts. The margins of defeat were high, with India dominating at the Harare Sports Club. India were on the back foot, having lost two consecutive T20I series against Ireland and England for the first time since 2019.

Zimbabwe had a chance to put more misery on the visitors, but the failure of their leader Raza didn’t allow them to have the upper hand in Harare. However, he was happy to have played against one of the top teams in the world.

“Firstly, well done to ZC for hosting these fixtures because if we can’t play top teams, we can’t grow. Cricket is a lot more entertaining when everyone is playing well. Our biggest takeaway is the experience. Nyamhuri and Marumani were very good. The journey started long ago. We wanted to change things in the dressing room. We wanted to bet on each other in success and in bad times. We wanted to die for every ball. We wanted to match the intensity of world cricket. We will have some bad days, and I’m okay with that,” he said.

Raza also opined on his performance and the difference he can make.

“I’ll certainly try and buy a run for myself. The team has held up well without my contribution, but I need to stand up and lead from the front. Hopefully when I start contributing I’ll add a lot more to the team’s success,” he added.

The batting collapses in the first two games put the African nation out of the competition, and they had no chance to challenge the Indian National Cricket Team. Zimbabwe lost the first ODI by 7 wickets, and the margin was 92 runs in the second.  Although Zimbabwe showed improvement in batting in the final game, they still went down by 35 runs.