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Eddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE will be hoping for a change of fortunes when they begin the Bulawayo leg of the five-match One Day International series currently underway against India.So far it has been a no contest with the tourists underlying their status as the world champions.
The series, which started last week at Harare Sports Club, has been hopelessly lop-sided as India have won the first three matches with relative ease and sealing the series with two matches to spare.
Zimbabwe assistant coach Steve Mangongo yesterday said it was frustrating that they have failed to rise to the expected levels despite the extensive preparations ahead of this tour.
The visitors took an unassailable 3-0 lead on Sunday when they rallied to a seven wicket victory.
Mangongo said they let themselves down on numerous occasions when they had a real chance to compete.
Zimbabwe’s batsmen have struggled to get runs on the board while their fielding sometimes, has been disappointing.
The batting track has not made it easy for both sides, especially the team batting first hence winning the toss became a big factor. But when they won it in the second game, India still managed to come out tops with a comprehensive 58-run victory.
“It’s a mixed feeling, playing one of the big operators in world cricket but three-nil looks terrible considering we spent two months preparing for this tour.
“It’s not like India ambushed us because we knew we were going to play them months before. As I said before, we respect them but we should realise that we are not there to add numbers.
“We are professionals and it was 11 versus 11. We had that opportunity to win at least one of the matches and keep the series alive.
“If you look at the first two games, we got into good positions to win but we failed to finish them off. At one time we had them on 65/4 but we dropped catches and made numerous fielding errors.
“It was just carelessness and lack of aggression on our part.
“It becomes frustrating in the end with all the work that we have put in.
“Our bowlers have shown a good signal at times but the batters are not getting the big scores. Look at India, they are not batting that well but they have at least one of their top four batsmen stepping up in every game, the likes of Shikar Dhawan and Virat Kohli.
“We also need that in our team because we have not seen that except for Vusi Sibanda who got a half century in one of the matches. Hopefully the situation will change in Bulawayo,” said Mangongo.
The fourth ODI will be played at Queens Sports Club on Thursday, with the final match slated for Saturday at the same venue. Despite the series being reduced to a dead rubber, Zimbabwe believe they still have much to play for as national pride is still at the stake.
Skipper Brendan Taylor, who himself has been disappointing in this series, also believes they need to improve on their game in Bulawayo.
“It’s getting quite frustrating now because leading up to the series, the amount of work we put in is not translating into results and knowing the ability of the players, it’s irritating.
“There is still a lot to play for in Bulawayo. On soft dismissals, the guys need to toughen up mentally. Chinouya has been knocking on the door for ages,” said Taylor.
Online Reporter