Pallekele, February 17 – Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza said that qualifying for the Super 8s was just one part of the larger mission the team had set for itself after his side secured a place in the next stage of the 2026 T20 World Cup following a match against the Ireland cricket team at the Pallekele International Stadium on Tuesday, which was washed out.
Both teams earned one point each after the washout, which helped Zimbabwe reach five points in the Group B points table, thus eliminating any chances of the 2021 champions, Australia, reaching the next round.
“The fact that we’ve qualified for the Super 8s hasn’t changed the ultimate goal that we set out for. As I said, it’s just a step forward, but we have a lot of other goals to achieve, and everyone loves an underdog story, don’t they?” Raza said, reflecting on the achievement.
The captain recalled Zimbabwe's journey through the qualification pathway, including the sub-regional qualifiers where they faced teams like Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
“I’ll take you back when we played the sub-regional qualifiers, and we played against Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and all those teams. And I remember standing up to my team and saying, ‘We are in this position, or in this mess, as you want to call it, because of us. There’s no one else to blame. And only we can get out of this.’ So, what are we going to do about it? And we won the qualifiers, then the regional sub-regional qualifiers. We won that as well,” he said.
Zimbabwe is placed in a tough group in the Super 8, as they will have to face defending champions India, 2024 runners-up South Africa, and two-time champions West Indies, and finish in the top two in the points table to reach the semi-final.
On preparing for the tough phase, Raza said the team management will closely analyze the conditions and the opposition.
“Yes, certainly. Myself and the coach will sit down. We also watched Sri Lanka in the last three games. We’ll have the data on them, and we’ll try to put our best foot forward and try to win that game. That’s the whole point of us being here.”
Raza believes that adapting to changing conditions will be crucial, as the team will now have to play Super 8 matches in India.
“I think every condition we find ourselves in, if we can find a day or two to train, I think we’ll be able to adapt well and hopefully make those plans. One thing you can’t fight is the weather and the conditions. So, we’ll try to learn those conditions if we can have two or three training days in a particular city, wherever we’re going.”
Before the Super 8s, Sikandar Raza's team will face the co-hosts Sri Lanka in their last group stage match at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Thursday.
