Sikandar Raza talks tough . . . Chevrons turn to T20 WC qualifiers
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE shadow of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers loomed over Sri Lanka’s white-ball series like a heavy blanket.
The One Day International series, which Sri Lanka won 2-0, seemed to be a distraction, while the Zimbabwe Chevrons skipper himself, Sikandar Raza, referred to the T20 series as a precursor or dress rehearsal to the actual continental tournament.
Now that Sri Lanka is done and dusted, all the attention shifts to the qualifiers which Zimbabwe will be hosting later this month.
The eight-team tournament forms the final part of the qualification process for the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup and is slated for September 26 to October 4 in the capital.
In this cycle, a total of 18 teams participated in the African sub-regional phase of the qualification process, which was divided into three events with six teams competing in each.
Now, only eight teams remain and these are Namibia, Kenya, Botswana, Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and hosts Zimbabwe.
They will now tussle for the right to join South Africa as Africa’s representatives at the World Cup.
South Africa automatically qualified through being in the top eight on the ICC T20 rankings.
Raza was the picture of calm but stern as Zimbabwe went down to Sri Lanka by eight wickets on Sunday, a result that saw the Asians take the T20 series 2-1.
In his post-match conference, the Zimbabwe Chevrons’ T20 skipper addressed a number of issues, chief amongst them the Tadiwanashe Marumani debate, an update on the fitness levels of Wellington Masakadza and Brendan Taylor and his thoughts on the upcoming qualifiers.
A selection headache awaits the Zimbabwe Cricket selectors as Masakadza, Taylor and even Graeme Cremer wait in the wings.
A centre of it all is Marumani.
The wicketkeeper/batter scored a composed half-century with his 51 runs off 44 balls, helping Zimbabwe to what should have been a match-winning 191 runs for eight after losing the toss and batting first.
Unfortunately, Sri Lanka hardly broke a sweat as they chased down the target on their way to an eight-wicket victory.
With the exception of Sunday’s innings, the 23-year-old Zimbabwe opener has long struggled for form as Sunday’s half-century was only his fourth from a total of 48 innings.
There have been at least 12 innings in between Marumani’s last two T20 half-centuries.
Also, three of his four half-centuries have come up against associate nations, namely Rwanda, Seychelles and Gambia.
Taylor’s return does offer Zimbabwe a batting and wicketkeeping option, but that is an issue for the selectors.
Marumani seems to have the backing of his skipper.
“I am really happy for Marumani,” said Raza.
“ . . . The kid works really hard and tries to put the team first as well.
“A lot of the time one can share their experience with him but a lot of the things he learns by himself on the park.
“Hopefully, that performance will give him that clear indication on how to construct an innings that could take the team forward because batting in the top three holds a very crucial role in T20 cricket.
“When people call for his head or call for someone’s selection, those things do not really get to me.
“They don’t bother me because this team is not made by one individual.
“It is for everybody who is playing cricket. So as a captain, be it a coach or a selector, the well-being of every player has to be at our heart equally rather than more for some and less for some,” he said.
Marumani is not the only player who will be in the line of fire due to the returns of Masakadza, Taylor and possibly Cremer.
Taylor and Masakadza made the squad for the Sri Lanka series but did not play and Raza offered an update on both.
“Wellington (Masakadza) has passed his fitness test, so he is good to go.
“As it pertains to BT (Taylor), we will only know in a few days’ time but, from what I heard as well, it is looking very promising and that he will be good to go as well,” he said.
The return of Masakadza and Cremer, who has only availed himself, should help strengthen Zimbabwe’s bowling unit which was exposed during Sunday’s T20.
They, Sri Lanka chased down 191 with relative ease, something which caught Raza by surprise.
He has opted to look at rather an anomaly but one that should act as a wake-up call to Zimbabwe’s bowling unit.
“I thought 191 was a very decent score at first,” said Raza.
“At Harare Sports Club, 191 has not been chased down too many times.
“I just think that when they started coming at us, we did not hold our plans and put trust in our plans.
“I think we were very reactive and thinking about what they are going to do rather than I’m going to stick with my plan and keep trusting it,” he said.
The Chevrons skipper went on to defend his charges but warned of tough talks ahead.
“I know we all look at the end results but, as a bowling unit, I know this is not where we want to see ourselves and this is not who we are.
“We will raise our hand as a bowling unit and say we got it wrong today (Sunday).
“The trick now is I got to remind them of the good they have done as well because the human brain is funny as it is always a negative thing that people talk about and remember.
“I have got to remind them how good they are and how much good they have done over the past few weeks as well and all the good things they have achieved as well.
“Here and there, a bad over mustn’t take away all the shine of all the good performances they have done.
“I will keep backing them but I will also be there for them to say, “listen this is what we need to do to get better,” he said.
