Srinagar: Zimbabwe star all-rounder Sikandar Raza has credited Australian great Ricky Pinging for motivating him ahead of Pakistan match in T20 World Cup 2022 at Perth.
Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by one run with Raza turning out as star performer. For his heroics Raza bagged yet another man of the match award in ongoing T20 World Cup.
Raza had a below par outing with the bat but made up for it with a three-wicket haul, including successive strikes of Shadab Khan and Haider Ali to bring Zimbabwe back into the game.
“I was excited today, and I watched this clip by Ricky Ponting earlier in the morning, and that motivated me to come up with this performance. I would like to thank Ricky Ponting for that,” he said in the presentation ceremony.
The Zimbabwe all-rounder was referring to a video clip where Ponting had showered praises on Raza’s ability to take responsibility in pressure moments.
Despite a below-par score on the board, Zimbabwe’s bowlers were on the money from the get-go as their tall quicks used the bouncy Perth surface to their advantage. Raza then chipped in with a spell of his own as the African side kept hanging in there even when things weren’t entirely going their way. In fact, Pakistan needed just 43 off 39 balls when Raza removed Shadab to start the slide.
“I am lost for words, my mouth’s dry probably because of the emotions I am going through at the moment. I can’t tell you how proud I’m of this bunch of boys. The way our seamers started at the top, was just unbelievable and the way we backed it up in the field and the way we kept believing, really lost for words,” Raza said.
Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine also lauded his side’s for the win.
“So special. Especially for the work we did to get into the Super 12s. We wanted to come in and play some really good cricket against top teams and we did that exceptionally well today. I thought after our batting performance, we thought we were maybe 20-25 short, but I thought our seamers hit their straps early on. Raza again came to the party as he always does and picked up a few crucial wickets in the middle there.”
Zimbabwe next travel to Brisbane to face Bangladesh at The Gabba on Sunday (October 30) while Pakistan’s next encounter is also on the same day, against Netherlands at Perth.