'Zimbabwe Should Not Play Test': Ramiz Raja Slams 'One-sided' Cricket Matches | PAK Vs ZIM
Ex-Pakistan cricketer Ramiz Raja was of the opinion that one-sided Test matches like Pakistan vs Zimbabwe will make the fans drift away from Test cricket. He urged Zimbabwe to stick to white-ball cricket.
Harare: Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe in a 2-match Test series, 2-0. In both matches, Pakistan won by a huge margin. They enforced the follow-on in both the Test matches. Thus, Pakistan's cricketer-turned commentator Ramiz Raja has suggested that such matches are not a good advertisement for Test cricket and the younger fans would switch to other sports.
“Some people are of the opinion that when a weak team plays a strong one, you need to focus on what you learn from it rather than the outcome of the match. You learn from the stronger team’s process and the way it adapts to the changing situation of a game. But I don’t think Zimbabwe learned anything from this series because they were continuously dominated by Pakistan. Also, there was no difference in their performance in the second Test as compared to the first one,” said Ramiz Raja on his official YouTube channel.
“Such mismatch series should not take place. Test cricket is already under pressure and very few people watch it. If you show them such one-sided matches, then they will switch to watching football or other sports. Three-day Test match is a joke,” Raja added.
He also showed his concerns for the state in which Zimbabwe cricket was in at the moment. “There has been a gradual deterioration in their system and structure along with corruption in (Zimbabwe) cricket board. There was also a tussle between black and white people. This performance is a reflection of this deterioration over the past 15-20 years. I hope they do well in the future but for now, they should not play Test cricket and concentrate only on white-ball cricket,” he ended.