[Match Thread]: Zimbabwe vs India, 1st ODI

[SpitfiresKent]

Slowly losing interest. This is India A for christ sake!

Nice new kit though.

[eugene]

Slowly losing interest. This is India A for christ sake!

Nice new kit though.

Apparently watermelon is responsible for the new kit.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Slowly losing interest. This is India A for christ sake!

Yeah, ended up rooting for Rahul in the second dig after the miserable batting display. Probably the first time I ended up supporting India in a Zim V Ind clash. Probably has to do with 3 Karnataka boys (Karun, Rahul and Pandey) being in the XI (and deservedly so). It does mean a lot I think when my favorite Hamilton was bowling, I was hoping Rahul hits that six and reaches the debut 100...

[grant]

lol it has come to this - Chibhabha is our best bowler now........
He actually bowled pretty well yesterday and beat the bat several times.........
Muzarabani is shit - why do the selectors keep picking him??
And why the heck did they leave Williams out??

[foreignfield]

lol it has come to this - Chibhabha is our best bowler now........
He actually bowled pretty well yesterday and beat the bat several times.........

Indeed. He was also bowling considerably quicker than Elton. Even more worrying is the fact that Chatara didn't bowl much quicker than Chamu. Before the injury he was operating between 130-140 kph, now he's struggling to hit 130.

Muzarabani does absolutely nothing with the ball, no shape, no seam, no swing, no bounce.

[foreignfield]

Evidently an attitude thing.

Referring to HM's dumping from captaincy or Williams' exclusion today?

I meant Williams, sorry for the late response.

I'm still trying to make sense of it all. Okay, Hami was never a ZC favourite, so his axing is not totally surprising in the greater ZC scheme of things. But what sense does it make for ZC to go for Cremer, a guy who turned his back on them just recently? Now we know ZC are not going to appoint a white captain just for the sake of pleasing the murungus. Cricketing reasons -- that would be a first. The best explanation would be that it's part of a deal to keep Cremer in Zim colours: You stay, you get the captaincy and better pay. Where is bayhaus when you need him?

[CrimsonAvenger]

Chibhabha did appear to bowl really well with a lot of discipline, and definitely more away movement and zip as well than before, so may be he is working on it. But he was made to look much better than he actually is by a woeful Rayudu who could not read the pace of the pitch I guess. Rahul was handling him better. But yes, others did not even do this much. Chigs was as woeful as ever with the ball, can't believe captains still turn to him.

I wonder how Ntini can rate Muzarabani ahead of Tiripano, or Madziva for that matter...

[CrimsonAvenger]

The best explanation would be that it's part of a deal to keep Cremer in Zim colours: You stay, you get the captaincy and better pay. Where is bayhaus when you need him?

That's what I thought yesterday too. It is more to do with keeping Cremer hooked to Zim - retention policy. Hamilton is not going anywhere even if you push him, so why waste captaincy on him when we can use it for this purpose? But Cremer saying that he got to know of his appointment through the social media is even more funny. He certainly wasn't expecting it. Hell, he did not even get to showcase his skills as vice captain after that appointment. Or he is also acting innocent. This could be a deal struck behind closed doors.

Taibu is apparently going to perform his duties while continuing to be in UK it seems, as I read somewhere. How would he be able to assess who is knocking on the doors for selection operating remotely? Will he be able to fast track the likes of Diplock from there though? That would be a positive.

As bayhaus would put it, whoever joins ZC in whatever role is part of the gravy train. They are in it for themselves. So, I don't completely believe in Taibu too, any more.

[watermelon]

Look at all you grubs all here talking about the game when none of you have been around last three months.

Bandwagon supporters.

How's everyone like MY shirt design?

-watermelon

[Kriterion_BD]

This match and the last year of Zim cricket just sums up how much of a white sport cricket is Zimbabwe. As the whites leave...