adminBlessing Malinganiza
ALL-ROUNDER Antum Naqvi’s much anticipated debut for Zimbabwe during the ongoing T20I international series against India looks increasingly unlikely as his naturalisation process is taking longer.
Zimbabwe hosts world champions India in the fourth match at Harare Sports Club this afternoon.
India, who lead 2-1, will secure the five-match series with a win today, while Zimbabwe must win to force a decider tomorrow.
Zimbabwe’s batting troubles at the top are well documented and Antum’s presence is expected to bring stability.
His father, Zubair Amir who is as excited as every Zimbabwe fan to see his son eventually make a debut for the Chevrons, is slowly losing hope in as far as the current series is concerned.
“We don’t believe Antum will be playing in this series because we haven’t heard anything with regards to his papers,” Zubair said.
“We remain hopeful and we are all looking forward to see him make his debut, but what we can’t deny the fact that the series is ending this Sunday, so very little time left.”
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe T20I captain Sikandar Raza is hopeful his charges will be clinical on the field and grab all the chances that will arise today.
The fielding has been the Chevrons’ Achilles’ heel as dropped catches; misfields largely saw Zimbabwe trail the series 2-1 having drawn first blood winning the series opener,
“I think it is the fielding again. We are very proud of it, but the wheels are coming off again. We gave away 20 runs extra.
“We still have problems at the top, but we are backing the boys.
“I know they are trying and once they do, we will come good again,” said Raza.
“We have tried 15 different opening partners in a year and a half.
“There is a lot of cricket going on in the country. We are trying to do everything.”
Online Reporter