ICC CWC Qualifier 2023: Sikandar Raza Leads Zimbabwe To a Record Chase
Zimbabwe and Netherlands met in the fifth match of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 on the 20th of June. Zimbabwe was coming from a confident victory against Nepal whereas this was Netherlands’ first game in the tournament. In Zimbabwe vs. Netherlands clash, the hosts comfortably chased down 316 in the 41st over with six wickets remaining courtesy of Sikandar Raza. As of now, Zimbabwe is at the top of the group A with two wins in two games. Let’s take a look at the Group A standings.
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| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | NRR | Points |
| Zimbabwe | 2 | 2 | 0 | +1.126 | 4 |
| West Indies | 1 | 1 | 0 | +0.780 | 2 |
| Nepal | 2 | 1 | 1 | +0.099 | 2 |
| USA | 2 | 0 | 2 | -0.812 | 0 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1.512 | 0 |
Zimbabwe Vs Netherlands
Zimbabwe after winning the toss invited the Netherlands to bat first. They posted a total of 315 while batting first, thanks to fifties from Vikramjit Singh, Max O’Dowd, and Scott Edwards. Zimbabwe got off to a good start as all of their top three batters scored 40-plus and Sikandar Raza finished the job with an exceptional knock of 102 off just 54 balls and also bagged Man of the Match for his stellar performance.
Zimbabwe’s Incredible Belief
One of the most exciting and promising factors of Zimbabwe’s team is its incredible belief and passionate fans. Since the last T20 World Cup in Australia, the passion of Zimbabwean fans has reignited and has grown to the next level. Zimbabwe as a team has been brilliant, last year they defeated Australia in an ODI in Australia and then went on to defeat Pakistan in the T20 World Cup group stage match and almost qualified for the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-finals. Sikandar Raza also stated, “We’ve promised our people that we’ll do something special.”
Zimbabwe’s Journey Ahead
While talking to the media yesterday, Sikandar Raza said that “The job is not done yet.” Zimbabwe still has to face West Indies in the group stage and then Super Six is the real challenge. Zimbabwean fans and the team will be confident to repeat last year’s T20 World Cup heroics but they will have to be at their absolute best to achieve this feat. Zimbabwe will face West Indies on the 24th of June and the USA on the 26th of June for their group-stage matches.
Also Read: West Indies Start Off Their World Cup Journey With a Win
Zimbabwe is great
They can do an upset or two in the World Cup if they qualify
Yes they sure can
Zimbabwe vs West Indies is going to be fun!
West Indies will win
Zimbabwe will see it off
If Sikandar raja was from different country, bohut hi bada player hota
Raza really the raza
Raza is playing quite long time and he is a superb all rounder
Shikandar Raza is a legend for Zimbabwe..
Raza and Williams are doing great job for Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe should go to next round
Zimbabwe is playing really good cricket… i think they should qualify for the next round
After the golden era of Zimbabwe..Raza leads the team superbly
Shikandar Raza is doing his job out of the mark…very good all rounder