India’s leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi said the young players are trying their best to carry forward Rohit, Virat’s legacy. The veteran duo retired from T20Is after taking India to glory in the recently concluded T20 World Cup. However, India lost their first match as World T20 champions as Zimbabwe stunned them by 13 runs at the Harare Sports Club, Harare on Saturday.

Zimbabwe posted a below-par score of 115-9 but India kept losing wickets at regular intervals as they were skittled out for 102 runs. The visitors lost four wickets in the Powerplay overs and could not get any impetus throughout their innings.

Gill and Washington Sundar scored 31 and 27 respectively but the rest of the batters could not even breach the 20-run mark. In fact, only three Indian batters could reach the double-digit mark. Bishnoi admitted they could not get any partnerships in the run-chase and it led to their downfall. Thus, the visitors failed to show any maturity while batting.

“We collapsed. The lack of partnerships, that made a difference. If we could have had 20-30 runs partnerships, the story could be different,” Bishnoi said in Saturday after the match.

“The seniors handed the responsibility to us and it is our responsibility to take the flag ahead, we are trying our best,” Bishnoi further said.

The leg-spinner further added they let themselves down in the field as they could not deliver with the bat.

Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi was sensational as he returned with impressive figures of 4-13, including two maiden overs. The young spinner dismissed Wessly Madhevere, Brian Bennett, Luke Jongwe, and Blessing Muzarabani in his fine spell.

 The second T20I of the series will be played at the same venue on Sunday.