New captain Graeme Cremer wants to win back support of Zimbabwe fans

Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer expressed disappointment at his team’s performance and termed the fan's reaction to the team's humiliating defeat to India in the second match of the ongoing ODI series as "disturbing".

Zimbabwe literally handed the series to India on a platter. Defeat is a very hard pill to swallow for any sportsman, but the margin of the losses in the series have been abysmal. Zimbabwe cricket has been on the brink of this sort of a capitulation for quite a while now. This wasn't the first time that a bunch of partisan supporters were venting their frustration against their national cricket team.

But never before had they turned on their cricket team with such unbridled ferocity. Even the Zimbabwe coach Makhaya Ntini has also expressed his disappointment in the weirdest manner possible claiming that he wanted to hang himself after the loss.

One of the banners read "Zim players should be arrested and face treason."

"Such messages are disturbing, but we know we have brought it on to ourselves. We have a long way to go as a team and we just ask our fans to stand by us while we try to fix our problems on the park," Cremer was quoted as saying on Wednesday (June 15).

"I totally understand the supporters' point of view. They are disappointed with us. We need to put in some good performances to regain their trust and support. We value their support. We are nothing without their support," Cremer added.

Tapfumaneyi Vivian Banhire, chairman of the ZCSU, sought to clarify the messages on the placards. He has requested that they not be translated literally. "The fans are disappointed as the players are losing without a fight. It must not be literally translated. It highlights the supporters' feeling that the players do not have the country at heart and their performances are a witness to that," Banhire explained.

"Our fans have always supported them even during the days when we were bowled out for 35 in ODIs and being bowled out twice in a day in Tests. We had never complained because they lacked experience. We were angry for those rebels (players) who had left us then. But now, 10-13 years later, the team is still not improving." he added.

With the T20 series to come, Cremer and his boys should now start performing well to please their irate fans.