Zimbabwe vs India 2016: Makhaya Ntini says he felt like hanging himself from tomato tree after 2nd ODI loss

For any sportsperson, a defeat is a hard pill to swallow and it seems that the current interim Zimbabwe coach Makhaya Ntini is knowing it the hard way as his team suffered yet another humiliating loss to India in the 2nd ODI of the 3-match ODI series and thus squandered the opportunity to make the series 1-1. Expressing his disappointment in the weirdest manner possible, the former South African pacer said that he contemplated hanging himself after observing the sorry predicament of his team. Zimbabwe at one stage were comfortably placed 106 for 3 but then committing extreme harakiri, they lost their last 6 wickets(Sean Williams was retired hurt) for just 20 runs. India comfortably chased down the target in 26.5 overs losing only 2 wickets to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

Ntini’s disappointment

Ntini vented his anger saying, “I almost hanged myself. If there was a tomato tree outside I would have hanged myself in that tomato tree.” He also added, “It’s no good. We have experienced players with us who can easily read the game. We were in the perfect position.”

Zimbabwe’s woes were worsened when experienced campaigner Sean Williams, who came in as a replacement for the injured Craig Ervine, injured his finger during the warm-ups and was unable to bat.

Some of the spectators present at the ground vehemently protested against their team’s abysmal performance and they held placards saying, "We cannot support disaster, calamity and quagmire of epic proportions."

Vusi Sibanda, who top-scored for the Zimbabweans with a valiant 53 off 69 balls, sounded quite disappointed at the vilification as he said, “I heard some of the words that came out and they’re obviously not nice. We’re representing our country and they’re as disappointed as we are.”

He also urged the outrageous fans to stand by them as they are going through a turbulent phase at this moment. The outrage of the fans is quite understandable given the lacklustre performances of the Zimbabwe cricket team in the past few years.

Known to be a formidable side in the late 90s and early 2000s, Zimbabwe lost their stature in international cricket due to reasons which had hardly anything to do with cricket. Some of their stalwarts became victims of the internal politics and Zimbabwe kept on losing their usual zeal and zest.

The young Indian team, however, went about their job in the most professional manner as they notched up yet another victory to seal the series. But one can’t help feeling sorry for Makhaya Ntini.