5th T20| Zimbabwe vs India| 14 July 2024

[Googly]

Is DH's extended break paid or unpaid?

[Marshmallow]

"My workload needs to be managed. I haven't played any four-day cricket in the last two years post my surgeries. My shoulder isn't 100%, I don't want to be a guy who just gets a jersey. I need to go back, respect my domestic cricket and also respect my domestic cricketers who have put a lot of runs. I will go back to play domestic cricket and test my own fitness. I am still available for Test match cricket but at this point of time , I am not because I haven't played a lot of four-day cricket. I'll leave for Manchester for The Hundred in a few days time, I am looking forward to that,"Raza concluded.

[Pat_Bee]

I can’t play tests with my busted shoulder, I’m looking forward to earning franchise dollar with my busted shoulder however

[Kriterion_BD]

With the series over its time to have a look at the raw numbers. Please note, that I haven't watched a single ball so I'm just going on scorecards.

On the batting front, Myers did decently. Strike rate was a little low at 114 odd, but the average was decent, and he's just coming back and is still quite young. Marumani had a good series by his standards averaging 24 at 110, but those numbers are quite mediocre in the grand scheme of things. Yes, India's A team is still a strong outfit...but it would probably still not be as good as one of the top 6 sides in the world. This series buys him time...what he does with that time, will determine his future. Madhevere struggled even more. Raza might be finished...he's quite old and his game relies on eyesight which starts to deteriorate rather rapidly once you get close to 40. Madande and Jongwe, not much to write home about, but didn't stink it up either. Bennett had a quiet series for the most part, but his intent as evidenced from his strike rate shows he's got the mindset for the format.

On the bowling front, Blessing did well and Richard did not. Both are a bit too hot and cold against teams ranked in the top 12.

[TapsC2]

Was trying to see if that one win helped with the rankings then I noticed that 2 of the batsmen we were up against are actually ranked in the top 10 for T20s. Gaikwad and Jaiswal. I don’t even think they played in the World Cup. India has an insane roster. We were lucky to win one game

Our hero Raza is ranked 60th

[Googly]

Under Houghton, Raza hit his purple patch. Whether that was a coincidence or not we will never know, but I suspect it wasn't.
Salamander needs to have the same philosophy-
Play freely, but with a smidgen of responsibility, and that has to be taken up by the other players. We just can't have guys aiming for a run a ball 20 or 30 to guarantee reselection because we will win maybe 5% of our games with that approach.

Having said that I think the lads did have that approach under Houghton, but they just couldn't pull it off. But the only way of getting better at it is to keep playing the shots and not to nudge and nurdle because it's the road to nowhere.

Oh and to play about 4 times the number of T20's that we currently play.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Under Houghton, Raza hit his purple patch. Whether that was a coincidence or not we will never know, but I suspect it wasn't.
Salamander needs to have the same philosophy-
Play freely, but with a smidgen of responsibility, and that has to be taken up by the other players. We just can't have guys aiming for a run a ball 20 or 30 to guarantee reselection because we will win maybe 5% of our games with that approach.

Having said that I think the lads did have that approach under Houghton, but they just couldn't pull it off. But the only way of getting better at it is to keep playing the shots and not to nudge and nurdle because it's the road to nowhere.

Oh and to play about 4 times the number of T20's that we currently play.

Raza was just doing what a good player should be doing agaisnt associates.
His record against top 8 teams hasn’t changed a lot over the years. Basically a 1/4 strike rate.
He looks better because now our players struggle agaisnt associates and top 8 test teams.