Pakistan vs Zimbabwe | Tri Series | 23 Nov 2025 | Rawalpindi

[zimfan1]

Fairly sure it is Raza who wants this side. He basically is the selectors.

These are the guys who will be selected for the T20 World.Cup, they have made up their minds. No going back now.

Bennett or bust is the script these days.

[sam_ahm]

Truth be told, if Naqvi gets eligible before the WC, that's the best thing for Zimbabwe.

Except he isn’t Zimbabwean

Only if he is eligible. If there are other capable players then ZC need to give them an opportunity.. there is Curran who has done exceptionally well in ODIs and Tests. N Welch bats slow so I'm not sure about him, but surely there must be other players. A Frost is a contender too... M Welch.

It is high time ZC look beyond Musikewa, Munyonga and I hate to say this but even BT in T20s.

[Googly]

Truth be told, if Naqvi gets eligible before the WC, that's the best thing for Zimbabwe.

Except he isn’t Zimbabwean

Only if he is eligible. If there are other capable players then ZC need to give them an opportunity.. there is Curran who has done exceptionally well in ODIs and Tests. N Welch bats slow so I'm not sure about him, but surely there must be other players. A Frost is a contender too... M Welch.

It is high time ZC look beyond Musikewa, Munyonga and I hate to say this but even BT in T20s.

In what format does NW bat slowly? His main game is white ball. Frost is playing really well, but he's got a way to go in T20. Curran is not bad at T20, he reverts to scooping, that's my only concern, but on a good day when he's in touch he can play.
Here's the story with T20. If you cant play this level reasonably at test level, nine times out of ten you won't make runs in T20. Its the same guys bowling at you
They should just tee up some guys in the nets with some nasty sidearm and see who can hit them. Pick those guys coz you can't learn that way into your career, you either can or you can't. That leaves you a choice of two
There are guys on social media wanting to jump start Blignaut and a couple of other u19's thinking there might be another Bennett there. There isn't. That was a fluke. Taruvinga looks decent, but needs a bit of time and the right pathway.

Raza wants the side he thinks they want. End of story. He reads the room perfectly.
I'd hazard a guess the only guy he's stuck his neck out for is Faraz He may punt for BT to hang around.
BT is a great player, but he's going to struggle in T20.

[Googly]

Now we are going to hear calls of Burl going to 3 and Madande in for Munyonga.
We've got 2 guys that can finish well. Burl and Raza.
Ideally they need to be 5 and 6. Or 6 and 7, where Munyonga and Musekiwa are. Then we need to replace 3 batters, and not with Madande and Madhevere. Its no more complicated than that.
We are going to get savaged with this team.

[zimfan1]

Seriously can't think of another option at 6 or 7, I am not sold on Campbell but he did not do a bad job in Bangladesh and felt is was harshly judged on the India series where to be fair he did look way out of his depth.

But can't think of any other hitters that could do the job at 6 or 7.

[Mueddie28]

Now we are going to hear calls of Burl going to 3 and Madande in for Munyonga.
We've got 2 guys that can finish well. Burl and Raza.
Ideally they need to be 5 and 6. Or 6 and 7, where Munyonga and Musekiwa are. Then we need to replace 3 batters, and not with Madande and Madhevere. Its no more complicated than that.
We are going to get savaged with this team.

And the selectors refuse to put him in the one dayers (ODI)
Ryan Burl u beast

[tawac]

The most painful thing of it all is that we have persisted with the same group of players when we had every opportunity to give other players a chance. We find ourselves in a very big whole with batters who don't seem to be improving. According to Raza Pakistan and Sri Lanka are right up our ally and we should expect better performances from our players. We cant be having players labelled finisher when they clearly cant play the role. Surely we are due for some change any change. For lack of better options I reckon all of Myers, Madande and Nyamhuri should play in the last game. BT, Munyonga, Musekiwa can sit it out. There is not point for Zim to play for glory when the process is not working.

[sam_ahm]

Except he isn’t Zimbabwean

Only if he is eligible. If there are other capable players then ZC need to give them an opportunity.. there is Curran who has done exceptionally well in ODIs and Tests. N Welch bats slow so I'm not sure about him, but surely there must be other players. A Frost is a contender too... M Welch.

It is high time ZC look beyond Musikewa, Munyonga and I hate to say this but even BT in T20s.

In what format does NW bat slowly? His main game is white ball. Frost is playing really well, but he's got a way to go in T20. Curran is not bad at T20, he reverts to scooping, that's my only concern, but on a good day when he's in touch he can play.
Here's the story with T20. If you cant play this level reasonably at test level, nine times out of ten you won't make runs in T20. Its the same guys bowling at you
They should just tee up some guys in the nets with some nasty sidearm and see who can hit them. Pick those guys coz you can't learn that way into your career, you either can or you can't. That leaves you a choice of two
There are guys on social media wanting to jump start Blignaut and a couple of other u19's thinking there might be another Bennett there. There isn't. That was a fluke. Taruvinga looks decent, but needs a bit of time and the right pathway.

Raza wants the side he thinks they want. End of story. He reads the room perfectly.
I'd hazard a guess the only guy he's stuck his neck out for is Faraz He may punt for BT to hang around.
BT is a great player, but he's going to struggle in T20.

From what I've seen of NW in tests , he takes his time....but I haven't seen him in domestics so I can't say much.

There is a clear preference for the likes of Munyonga, Musekiwa and Marumani... Look it's either BT or Maru because one of them will keep , so they've got to keep Marumani in the side , at the very least as a back up keeper... But ffs Munyonga and Musikewa need to go.

Campbell was harshly treated, no doubting that. I don't know how good or bad Matt Welch and Matthew Campbell are..?

Is Madhevere scoring some runs to stake a claim.. again Madhevere is better than all of Munyonga, Myers, Madande, Musikewa and Marumani... iI would still say he is talented but hasn't done justice to his talent.

[aydee]

Who should bat 7?

Considering that there is no need for this person to bowl or keep. In fact, if they did, that would make things more awkward.

Genuine question as well. I can't see a good option for this slot.

[Googly]

It always comes down to ZC using stats when it suits them to select or not select.
Or they jump on the talent/ability thing very occasionally, but that takes a Bob Marley to just dream up a name
Then of course ZC may be the most guilty of any board of picking players for "other" reasons.
Theyre not a lot different to other selectors in this regard, I guess. The only difference is that other boards have a bigger playing pool and when they pick a "dud" it's not as glaringly obvious.

We have only a small handful of guys that can cope at this level. It does not matter how many times they expose guys they desperately want to be there, they won't improve. If anything it messes them up mentally beyond repair. We have seen this over and over and over again. It doesn't matter what is said to the contrary, there are reserved spots.
ZC succumbed to some pressure in the test squad, but theyre not doing that across all formats, that would be too big a climb down. The money and the games are in the white ball. There are some reserved spots.

I can't find Raza's post match customary nonsense, anyone got a link? Its getting tougher to defend, but by God he will try.

Plus there's another big problem. There are a number of guys that make the national side and immediately take their foot off the pedal, not that it was ever on. They'll attend team practices and that's it. They dont do extra, they dont work on their personal weaknesses, they don't do gym or run, they are happy to just do enuf and I guess just pray for a 20-30 to keep them in the mix. They know they are on a long long long rope. Plus of course money is tight and the extra stuff will be 400 a month. These guys should get booted on the spot. Thats at least half the team and 99% of the franchise teams. If it's not laid on and compulsory, like you are at school, then it just doesn't happen.

There's only one thing changing this disastrous mind set..and that's picking the best players. That will get the competitive juices flowing instantly. It's why Sogo franchise would have been a game changer.
It won't happen because they know most won't keep up, it will be the end of the road for the slackers.
Unfortunately/fortunately that's taken care of. There's a fortuitous handbrake on uppity whites putting in the hard yards.

We have to find guys who want to compete and win and drag themselves up to international level. It sounds stupid, but most ain't got it, they think they do, but they have no idea how the top guys train, or what the wannabe's in other countries (and here) put themselves thru to try and break in.
We need guys who believe they are as good or can be as good. We've got a bunch wondering how they got there and praying they do enuf just to stay there. They know full well theyre there ahead of better players as well. I wonder if there's even a twinge of conscience? We know that answer as well. I mean when my least favorite player walks out there he must be wondering how the selectors think he's a better player than some of the blokes not even in the running. He'd have to be special needs to believe he's the best pick.

I said it in a previous post. Get the existing guys and the wannabe's facing some nasty sidearm and tell them to get on with it. Pick the top 8. The team would look very different , but it would be a lot better.