Humbled Sikandar Raza on Zimbabwe's historic T20 WC Super 8 entry

Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza feels 'humbled' after his side qualified for the T20 World Cup Super Eights for the first time, knocking out Australia. He said the aim was to bring more recognition and respect for the nation after past failures.

Following his side's qualification to the Super Eight stage for the ICC T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza said that he feels "humbled" to have crossed the first hurdle and reflected on how the aim was to bring more "recognition and respect" for the nation, especially after missing out on missing out on the 2023 World Cup qualification.

Courtesy of their strong performances in wins against Oman and 2021 champions Australia and a washout against Ireland, Zimbabwe has advanced to the Super Eights of the competition for the first time ever, marking their best-ever performance in a T20 World Cup. In the process, Ireland and Australia have also been thrown out of the equation completely. From 2007-16, Zimbabwe bowed out in the group stages in the T20 World Cups. In the 2020s decade, Zimbabwe failed to qualify for the 2021 and 2024 editions, while they finished at 12th place in the 2022 edition in Australia after making it to the Super 12 stage. This marks Zimbabwe's strongest performance in all of ICC white-ball events in years and comes on the back of plenty of all-format action against some top Test-playing nations, including India, last year. Having previously made it to the Super Sixes stage of the 1999 and 2003 50-over World Cups. Their best finish was the fifth spot in the 1999 World Cup.

'A Tick in the Box, Not the Whole Box'

Speaking after the washout in a post-match presser, Raza spoke on the qualification to the next round, "Certainly very humbled, very grateful, very pleased at the same time, as much as the boys are enjoying and rightly so but I think we have got another game in in less than 48 hours (against Sri Lanka) in which we need to prepare and that includes a traveling day tomorrow as well. So yeah, we will have a little celebration in the changing room but once we leave changing room we have got another game to prepare so our focus will shift to that game pretty quickly but for now everybody is happy, honoured, pleased, grateful, all those feelings."

The Zimbabwe skipper said that qualification to the Super Eight is a "tick in the box", but "certainly not the whole box they set out for".

Goal to Bring More Recognition and Respect

"One of the goals we set out for, without telling you all the goals we set out, but one of the goals we set out for was certainly that we're going to bring more recognition and respect to our country. Whatever has happened in the past has happened, but this group of boys and the way we have been together for a long time and the way we have gone about our business with utmost honesty and integrity towards the game itself and to each other in the changing room. Those were one of the things we set out for," reflected Raza.

"And to see now you guys and everybody else taking notice of Zimbabwe and putting Zimbabwe in a very respectable manner and taking notice of our country is certainly very humbling and pleasing. It is certainly one of the boxes tick as well and hopefully we can keep writing our own history and the next time when people talk about Zimbabwe when it comes to cricket, they show a bit more respect and that will be nice and that was one of the reasons and the goals we set out," he added.

Raza said that he feels "honoured" to be leading the team that has done so well in the tournament so far and more credit should be given to his teammates than him. "I am just a guy who sits here and talks. But the way we have gone about our business, not only that, the way we have prepared and everything that we set off for when we sat down as a team, the things we wanted to achieve, how we going to go about it. Along the way people had to make a lot of sacrifices because we demanded as a team a lot of things from them and we had to change our ways and things like that. So now to see these rewards, I am sure everybody is looking back and thinking we did the right thing by doing XYZ or by leaving XYZ. So honestly, I cannot tell you how proud I am of these boys," he added.

Turning Past Failures into Motivation

On missing out on the qualification for the 2023 World Cup in India, having finished at fourth spot in the qualifying tournament held in their homeland and missing out on the T20 WC 2024 as well, Raza recalled telling the team "either to feel sorry" or "to understand the reality that only they could get out of the mess they made".

"I remember sitting down with the squad and said either we feel sorry for ourselves and be ashamed or actually understand the reality and the reality is it is because of us we are in this mess and it is only us who can get it out so either we all get together and work towards a singular goal which is to win this tournament win the qualifiers get to the World Cup and then write our own history and story. And all of us got together and we all unanimously agree that, yes, it is our own fault because we kept most of the same squad. And we said it is because of us and only us can get it out," he said.

"Our country do deserve more respect and recognition. And us as cricketers also deserve more respect. And we can only do that by doing X, Y, Z. And we all sat down and lay down a plan. And this is what we are going to do. Along the way, we will have bad games. A lot of criticism will come our way. But if we stay true to our plan and keep trusting each other and create a better culture and environment for our team to thrive in, we will be fine. And to see the results after what, almost two years, is certainly very pleasing," he added.

On Fan Support in Sri Lanka

Speaking on the fan support in Sri Lanka, he said that it was because of the "nature of their cricket" that fans travelled to watch them play after a long time and they have given them hope that the team is "onto something and can achieve something".

"And that is just not the cricketers, or the changing room, or the technical staff. It is our fans. It is our media. It is the citizens of our country. It is everybody who is connected to cricket, whether he is in Zimbabwe or overseas. And if we have all of us together, I think we will achieve something. And to see them here suddenly tells you a story that they believe in this group of boys and to repay that faith by qualifying to Super 8 with a game to spare is suddenly trip worthwhile and I can only hope there will be more and more numbers the next time Zimbabwe travel for away games so that our Castle Corner as we call them can travel and support us anywhere we go," he concluded. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)