Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza wants his team to maintain its winning form throughout the series after their historic triumph against the 2024 T20 World Cup winner in Saturday's series opener. Raza and Tendai Chatara bowled brilliantly as Zimbabwe thrashed a younger, more revamped Indian squad, coached by Shubman Gill.

As a result of Raza and his bowlers defending 115 runs, India lost their first Twenty20 International of the year, losing by 102 runs in 19.5 overs. India were left to regret their careless bowling and hasty batting as Sikandar Raza and Tendai Chatara each took three wickets, while Clive Madande's last-ditch effort helped seal the victory. The Indian team's new generation, which included rookies like Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel, had a disastrous performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

In the post-match presentation, Raza detailed his team's dominance over Shubman Gill's squad and acknowledged that they will need to be cautious in their pursuit of atonement in Sunday's battle.

" I feel really happy about the win. We need to take one game at a time. The job is not done, the series is not over. World champions play like world champions so we need to be ready for the next game. This isn't a wicket where you get bowled out for 115. Credit to the bowlers of both sides. Clearly an indication we need to up our skills," Raza said. According to the 38-year-old, his team's outstanding catching and fielding allowed them to maintain pressure on India.

" I said I don't care about the result as long as we could be true to the crowd and changing room, we had our plans, we stuck to it and we backed our guys. Our catching and ground fielding was amazing but we did make some errors, which shows there's room for improvement. We knew the fans would lift us up and give us energy. Credit to them. It helped us," he added.

Despite India's lacklustre performance in the first round, their youthful squad will likely be on the edge of their seats waiting for a chance to redeem themselves in their second play on July 7.