"Such one-sided matches are a joke" -  Ramiz Raja on Pakistan's 2-0 win over Zimbabwe in Test series 

Former Pakistani cricketer Ramiz Raja has expressed his displeasure at Pakistan's plain sailing clean sweep against Zimbabwe in the two-Test series. Raja termed the games, both of which finished within 3 days, a 'joke' and a negative advertisement for Test cricket.

Babar Azam-led Pakistan thrashed the hosts by an innings and 147 runs on Monday to cap off a dominating performance. This came after Brendan Taylor's team lost the first Test by an innings and 116 runs.

Ramiz Raja called for the discontinuation of such lopsided rubbers. He gruffed that if they continue, cricket's audience will prefer to shift to other sports.

“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. A three-day Test match is a joke,” Ramiz Raja said in a video on his YouTube channel.

Great work Pakistan! It is important to give a real dominant performance wherever possible and that is what Pakistan have done. Congratulations to Azhar,Abid, Nauman, Shaheen and Hasan on fine performances. Tough luck Zimbabwe, so much to learn still!

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) May 10, 2021

Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi were the main architects of Pakistan's comprehensive win. While Abid and Azhar returned 275 and 162 runs respectively from the 2 Tests, Hasan and Shaheen picked up 14 and 10 wickets. Hasan was adjudged the Player of the Series for his chart-topping performance.

"Don’t think Zimbabwe learned anything from this series" - Ramiz Raja

Zimbabwe cricket team (PC: Twitter)

Ramiz Raja also took a swipe at people urging both teams to focus on their individual learnings from the series irrespective of the outcome. He said Zimbabwe showed no improvement from the 2nd match to the first because of Pakistan's dominance.

“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," asserted Ramiz Raja.

With this win, Babar Azam became the first Pakistani captain to record wins in his first four Tests.

Pakistan complete their second consecutive series clean sweep with an incredible inning and 147-run winReport ➡️ https://t.co/3LlZmPMiHSScorecard ➡️ https://t.co/Zdt2tz6CbgInterview ➡️ https://t.co/dcSt5gsrBd#ZIMvPAK #HarHaalMainCricket #BackTheBoysInGreen pic.twitter.com/kuTzov62nJ

— PCB Media (@TheRealPCBMedia) May 10, 2021