Sikandar Raza, the captain of the Zimbabwean cricket team, when asked about the second-best T20I side in Asia, replied with a very cold remark, he said they are the second-best team in Africa and that’s all he cares about.
Pakistan, despite all the troubles, is going to host Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe for a tri-series match starting on the 18th of November. Due to a series of attacks on their territory, Afghanistan, the first team finalized for the series, withdrew, and Zimbabwe was called in their place.
Zimbabwe has a unique record in the shortest format of the game, as they have previously defeated Pakistan in a T20 World Cup game. Given their unique record, the Zimbabwean skipper Sikandar Raza has been put through a series of tricky questions so far.
Sikandar Raza cuts through Pakistan during a press conference
In the press conference before the Tri-series, the Zimbabwean captain was asked by a Pakistani journalist who he thinks is the second-best T20I side in Asia.
To this, Sikandar Raza, who was all ears up till that moment, simply went on to assert, “All I would tell you, since now I am in my national jersey, Zimbabwe is the second-best team in Africa. I don’t care about who is the second-best team in Asia.”
“I would talk about that when I am not in the national jersey. Right now, all my focus and attention is on Zimbabwe; it’s a press conference for a Zimbabwean captain, and everything I will and should answer is for Zimbabwe.”
“I personally don’t care who the second, third, fourth, or even the tenth best team in Asia is. We are the second-best team in Africa and looking to challenge the best team in Africa, which is South Africa, as many times as we are given the opportunity,” he concluded.
Sikandar Raza shuts down the Pakistan reporters before the tri-series, saying, “It might be an upset for you…. But not for me.”
The second question, which a Pakistani journalist addressed to the captain, was about whether the tri-series finals would be an upsetting case for Zimbabwe or if it would just be a normal occurrence.
“It might be an upset for you, as I can read the room; you people are not giving us too much chance to get to the final. For you guys, Zimbabwe beating Pakistan would be an upset, but not for me,” said Sikandar Raza, who gave Zimbabwe much of a chance to qualify for the finals.
Zimbabwe had also defeated the Sri Lankan side during their tour to Zimbabwe just ahead of the Asia Cup this year, thus boosting their confidence against both these teams, and they fancy their chances to reach the finals.
Pakistan edged past Zimbabwe to secure their first points in the Tri-series
Although Zimbabwe did not perform remarkably with the bat, some of their batters contributed well to lead them to a modest but competitive target of 148 runs in front of the Men in Green at home. The leading batters were Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, and Sikandar Raza.
On the other hand, Fakhar Zaman was the one to score 44 runs for Pakistan nicely down the order. That innings was the anchor that held the Pakistan innings together after a horrible top-order collapse, with Babar Azam being dismissed for a so-called duck and Salman Agha going quickly for just 1 run.
The match’s player Mohammad Nawaz could not believe his outstanding display with bat and ball and was instrumental in their comfortable win. Next up for Sikandar Raza’s team is a showdown with Sri Lanka in the second match of the tri-series.
