Mahmudullah wants to ‘seek players’ trust as captain’

Elaborating on his leadership philosophy, Mahmudullah said that it’s important to have well-defined roles for every member of the team, and be patient with them when things aren’t quite going their way.

"I will seek the players' trust as a captain," Mahmudullah said. "I want to be honest with the players. The T20 format allows you to have one or two bad games, and a player can feel insecure. It is the responsibility of the captain and coach to give the players freedom to play. I will also make the players understand what the team wants them to do.

"I want to assure them that from now on, there will get a stable batting order so that they can have the freedom to perform. I believe that in T20 cricket, things can become easier if you know your specific role, especially if you are batting from No. 5 to 7. If a batsman gets out first ball trying to hit for the team, we will consider those situations. He will also get the team management's support.”

For Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams, it’s all about the senior players in the team putting their hand up, himself included. "As it stands right now, we will back Raza, Brendan, Craig, Wesley [Madhevere] and myself," he said. "We can also play. The guys up the order have earned the rights to bat up the order. They have proved themselves over and over again. Having Donald [Tiripano] down the order is a good thing for us. If he carries on playing like this, we can start thinking about him moving him up the order. He is a very busy man. He is proving to be an extremely good allrounder for us.

"Our all-round basics have been poor. Backing up, walking in, too upright, letting singles and boundary balls through the last balls of the over. Small things have made a big difference for us. They have let us down badly. I am extremely hard on them now. I want discipline back."