Follow UsIt’s not often that a captain openly addresses a glaring issue in the post-match presentation, but in the aftermath of Zimbabwe’s loss in the third T20I of the ongoing series against India, skipper Sikandar Raza did not hold himself back, admitting that opening stands were proving to be a huge cause for concern for his side.
“We have tried 15 different [opening] partners in a year and a half. We still have problems at the top, but we are backing the boys,” Raza said.
Raza’s comments came on the back of a third consecutive single-digit stand for Zimbabwe in the series. The hosts’ opening stands after three games were as follows: 6, 4 & 9.
The situation was so bad that, since December 2023, Zimbabwe had no 50-run stands for the opening partnership in 14 attempts. The opening stand only averaged (12.7) during this period, the lowest among all sides in the world.
The situation was dire, and heading into the fourth T20I against India on July 13 (Saturday), a do-or-die match in the context of the series, the hosts could not have afforded another poor start from the openers.
However, with the team’s back firmly against the wall, Wessly Madhevere and Tadiwanashe Marumani stepped it up for the hosts, posting the side’s highest opening partnership in 226 days.
Heading into the clash today, Zimbabwe did not have a 50-run opening stand in T20Is all year. And having sent in to bat on a fresh pitch with plenty of bounce, it initially looked like the trend might continue, particularly after three excellent deliveries from Khaleel Ahmed.
However, Madhevere and Marumani ended up giving Zimbabwe the perfect start, adding 63 runs together for the first wicket. It was Zimbabwe’s highest opening stand in 226 days — with the team’s previous fifty-run stand in T20Is coming back in November 2023 against Kenya.
This was a very rare 50-run opening stand in multiple contexts. Prior to today, in their history, Zimbabwe had registered only 13 fifty-run opening stands against full-member sides in 110 attempts.
The 63-run partnership between Madhevere and Marumani was the team’s first 50-run opening stand against a full-member side since July 25, 2021, when, incidentally, the same two players added the same number of runs together (63) at the same venue (Harare) against Bangladesh.
Madhevere and Marumani were eyeing adding a 100-run opening stand only for the third time in the country’s T20I history, but the left-handed Marumani holed out to Rinku Singh at deep midwicket on 32, handing Abhishek Sharma his maiden international wicket.
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