Indian captain Shubman Gill admitted they let themselves down on the field and they were not up to the standard after their 13-run loss in the first T20I against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club, Harare on Saturday.
India’s young brigade bowled well to keep the opposition at 115-9 after Gill won the toss and decided to field first, with Ravi Bishnoi bagging four wickets. However, India lost their first match after becoming World T20 champions as the young batters could not deliver with the bat.
The visitors got off to a horrid start as they were reduced to 22-4 after five overs. The Shubman Gill-led team kept losing wickets at regular intervals and didn’t get any kind of impetus throughout their innings.
Shubman Gill and Washington Sundar scored 31 and 27 runs respectively but none of the other batters could show much fight on a slow pitch, which was assisting the spinners.
Shubman Gill said in the post-match presentation, “We bowled pretty well, we let ourselves down in the field. We were not up to standard and everyone looked a bit rusty. We spoke about taking time and enjoying our batting but it didn’t pan out that way.”
He added, “Halfway through we had lost 5 wickets, would’ve been best for us if I stayed there till the end, very disappointed with the way I got out and the rest of the match panned out. There was a bit of hope for us but when you’re chasing 115 and your no.10 batter is out there, you know something is wrong.”
India’s batting was not up to the mark and the young batters, who have all the domestic and IPL experience, will need to play more maturely at the top level.
The second T20I of the series will be played at the same venue on Sunday.
