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Zimbabwe just completed a two-match test series against Pakistan, held at Harare Sports Club over the last two weeks.
Pakistan won the series two nil.
Here are lessons we picked up from the defeat
Zimbabwe needs to work on depth
They probably would have been further along on this, were it not for the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. The fact that the domestic competitions were curtailed, along with the tours by county sides last year, as well as A tours, means this could have been solved by then. That said, any team having lost six regulars due to injury would struggle. And if one of those regulars is the captain, who has hit three test centuries in as many matches, it is a hard ask. That many debuts in one series is pretty nervous.
The batting department is a crisis
In spite of the above, yes, the missing guys, Zimbabwe has an issue in the batting department. In this season’s domestic first class tournament, the Logan Cup, there were only three times that the 400 mark was breached in 10 matches. The last individual score that went over 200 as in December of 2017. If the scores are rare at domestic level, then it is hard to expect those to happen at international level.
Regis Chakabva is such improvement
Regis Chakabva coming in as makeshift number three is one of the exciting green-shoots of this series. That he did a job there says a lot about his gritty nature and shows what else he can offer in that team
The bowlers are mustard but more is needed
Richard Ngarava had a hard experience in the first match, but he redeemed himself in the second. Tendai Chisoro took wickets too and Blessing Muzarabani was on point. Zimbabwe lost Roy Kaia, who rocked the local first class tournament, Logan Cup, was limited in the second match due to injury. Against wily streetwise characters such as Azhar Ali and Abid Ali, they did the best they could but that most of the pace bowlers were gentle medium pacers.
Zimbabwe next play Bangladesh in about a month.
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