Emotional Sikander Raza incredibly proud of Zimbabwe after stunning Pakistan in final ball thriller
Zimbabwe stunned Pakistan on Thursday, 27 October in a final ball thriller in the T20 World Cup at Perth on Thursday, 27 October. A spirited Zimbabwe team held their nerves to defend 11 runs in the final over against Pakistan. Batting against pacer Brad Evans, Pakistan batters failed to hit three runs from the final three balls. This marked a famous victory of Zimbabwe against heavyweights Pakistan, who had played in the semi-finals of the last edition of the tournament.
Zimbabwe’s miracle win was led by spin all-rounder Sikander Raza who picked three crucial wickets on the day to break Pakistan batting order’s back. Raza removed Shan Masood, Shadab Khan and Haider Ali in quick succession. An emotional Raza walked out in the post match interview after the match and said that his throat dried up from all the emotions.
“I am lost my words. I have lost those in these emotions. It was a hell of a match. I don’t have any words to describe those. I can’t express how proud I am of this group of boys. The way our seamers started at the top and the way we backed it up in the field and kept believing, I don’t think there are any words I can say right now. The way we did that on the field and with the ball, it has been a sensational pull-off,” Raza said, almost choking up on his words.
“When I was on the flight to Australia, I said to my players we can do this. I reminded the captain that he owed me three watches. I was excited today, and I saw this Ricky Ponting clip earlier in the morning, which inspired me to come up with this performance. Ricky Ponting deserves credit for this,” he concluded his speech.
Zimbabwe’s win over Pakistan puts the Babar Azam side in a precarious position as they run the risk of getting knocked out of the tournament after back to back losses against India and Zimbabwe.
