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Kandy, Sri Lanka — ZIMBABWE captain Elton Chigumbura has claimed that he is not being weighed down by the captaincy and insists that his spectacular loss of form, which coincided with his promotion to lead the team, has nothing to do with his leadership of the national cricket side.

The Zimbabwe skipper turned 25 on Monday, was named Zimbabwe skipper in May 2010 after Prosper Utseya quit the post, taking over the captaincy when his powers as an all-rounder were at their peak during a period in which he also got a contract to play county cricket for Northamptonshire in England.

Chigumbura then capped it all, in a dream year for him, when he was named the Zimbabwe Cricketer of the Year at the CBZ Bank 2010 Cricket Awards.

But very little has gone according to plan for the skipper since taking over the captaincy and his form with both bat and ball has taken a battering while injuries, and the inevitable loss of confidence, have also taken their toll on a man who was expected to lead his team.

By his own admission, Chigumbura has been a pale shadow of the explosive batsmen who caught the eye in the past and, while injuries meant that his bowling was restricted, it has been very clear that he is a man certainly not in control of his game.

On Monday night, after Pakistan confirmed Zimbabwe's exit from this World Cup with a seven-wicket victory at the Pallekele International Stadium, Chigumbura confronted his shortcomings, as he addressed the media, and conceded that he had not fired for his team.

But he dismissed suggestions that his spectacular loss of form was in any way linked to his promotion to the captaincy and insisted that he was a man fighting hard to reclaim his touch and believed he was only a good innings away from regaining his powers.

Sadly, when things aren't going well for you, even the natural elements seem to conspire against you.

For how else can Chigumbura describe the way rain intervened and destroyed what had appeared a welcome comeback innings by the Zimbabwe skipper, as he led his team's recovery under lights at the Pallekele, with the curtailed innings leaving him stranded on an unbeaten 32.

Zimbabwe had slumped to 13-3 and then 44-4 before Tatenda Taibu, Craig Ervine, Greg lamb, Utseya and Chigumbura came in with some partnerships to take the score to 151-7 when rain again stopped play, with 3.2 overs of the 43 overs still to be played.

Chigumbura said he was working hard to get back to the high standards that he set for himself.

"I know I haven't performed the way I wanted to but it has just been one of those things when you just go out of form," said Chigumbura.

"Unfortunately it came when I became captain.

"I am still working hard and I believe I am just one innings away from coming back into form."

The all-rounder also made it clear that the decision, either to retain him as captain or to look for someone else, was not his responsibility but was purely dependent on what the Zimbabwe Cricket board wanted.

"At the end of the day it's not my decision," said Chigumbura. "It's the board's decision whether they want me to be captain or not."

Zimbabwe coach Alan Butcher had also backed his captain when confronted about whether the leadership roles were eroding his abilities to perform for the team.

"I'm not sure whether the captaincy is weighing on him but obviously his lack of form is. He is honest enough to admit that," Butcher said.

"But he keeps practicing, trying to work harder and trying to turn things around because he's got enough ability.

"He has been working on a few technical issues this week and hopefully they will pay dividends when he gets to the crease."

Chigumbura said his team still needed to get some basics right, like keeping their wickets in the first 15 overs of an ODI, and the World Cup had helped expose their shortcomings and they will now return home to work on a number of technical issues.

"I thought our fielding and bowling, they were just superb and we just have to work on our batting which has been a problem in this tournament," said the skipper.

"The batting apart, I thought we put a good fight. My biggest concern is our batting, which we must work on when we go back home, especially our first 15 overs, especially when playing the big teams I think we are averaging three or four wickets in the first 15 overs.

"It's a big concern and we have to improve on that aspect."

He insisted he was right to elect to bat on Monday even when the overcast conditions provided a big test for his batsmen with the ball doing a variety of things.

"The games that have been played here before, the teams batting first were putting up a big score and, also today, there were good conditions to bat in but unfortunately the rains came and, also losing those four wickets, but it was a good wicket to bat on," said Chigumbura.

"We lost that momentum by stopping and playing again and, also the way we approached the innings, it was to try and hit hard in the last four overs, but unfortunately we didn't get those four overs.

"I guess that's cricket."

Ray Price took two wickets, in an impressive spell for the Zimbabwe, including castling Shahid Afridi, but his good work was all in vain as Pakistan found the resources to negotiate their way to their revised target of 162 to win, under Duckworth Lewis, in 38 overs.

Chigumbura hailed Price for his value to the team.

"I thought when he came back he did a good job to get rid of Afridi," said Chigumbura.

Chigumbura and his men left Sri Lanka last night for Mumbai, the Indian commercial capital, where they will spend two days before flying out to Kolkata for their Sunday date against Kenya to close their 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup campaign.