People will watch football if one-sided matches like Pakistan-Zimbabwe continue in Tests: Ramiz Raja

Former Pakistan opener Ramiz Raja has not liked the idea of a Test series between Pakistan and Zimbabwe one bit. He has refuted the long-standing idea that when a small team play against well-established ones they understand and develop their skills by looking at players and the approach of those teams.

He said that the host Zimbabwe showed no signs of learning from the Pakistan team and rather were humiliated in both Tests of the series. He further stated that there should be no sense of idealism in organising matches between two mismatched teams as it will force people to switch to other sports such as football for lack of competitiveness in the game.

“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 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,” he added.

Notably, Pakistan handed Zimbabwe innings defeat in both the Tests played in Harare.