Online Reporter
FOLLOWING their breakthrough title last season, Rhinos are champions again, this time crowned without a final ball being delivered, after the 2025/26 Domestic T20 decider against Eagles was abandoned by rain at Kwekwe Sports Club on Sunday.
The weather ended the contest before it began, but the trophy was not left in limbo. Zimbabwe Cricket regulations are explicit. When a final cannot be played, the team that finishes top of the round robin standings takes the title.
Rhinos arrived in Kwekwe already in control of their own fate and the rain simply confirmed it.
They finished the group stage with 15 points from eight matches, five wins, one defeat and two washouts. Eagles, there would be opponents in the final, ended on 13. The gap mattered. It meant there was no appeal, no tie breaker, no debate. Rhinos had defended the title they won a year ago.
Coach Adam Chifo’s side had done their work a day earlier, beating Tuskers by 18 runs in their final round robin match, a result that saw them lock down top spot before Sunday’s weather rolled in. That match, played on Saturday, effectively decided the championship.
Rhinos batted first and leaned heavily on Ben Curran when the rest of the top order failed to convert starts. Curran struck a controlled 48 off 31 balls, eight fours threaded through the infield, steadying an innings that never quite broke loose.
Captain Antum Naqvi and Tashinga Musekiwa both reached 20, Musekiwa getting there quickly off 13 balls, but neither kicked on. Momentum only returned late, through a seventh wicket stand that shifted the tone of the innings.
Graeme Cremer and Maaz Khan added 32 runs from the final 14 deliveries, pushing Rhinos to 172 for six. Khan finished unbeaten on 23 from 10 balls, two sixes clearing the rope and stretching a total that had looked short half an hour earlier.
For Tuskers, Petrus Sithole was the standout with the ball, removing both openers and conceding just 19 runs from his three overs. His spell kept the chase alive longer than it should have been.
Tuskers responded with a tactical move, promoting Milton Shumba to open. It almost turned the match. Shumba carried the innings with 70 from 58 balls, striking two sixes and four fours, batting deep while wickets fell around him.
The problem was the silence at the other end. Tawanda Maposa’s 15 was the best support Shumba received. When Shumba was caught off the first ball of the final over, off Muhammad Khwaja, Tuskers still needed 27. The chase ended there.
Cremer led Rhinos’ attack with three for 28, removing the middle order and keeping the game from drifting. The win booked Rhinos’ place in the final, though by Sunday afternoon, the final itself no longer mattered.
Captain Naqvi summed up the moment later in his own words. “First ever T20 title last season. Defended it this season. Back-to-back champions. Proud to lead this incredible group. A lot of hard days go unseen, but moments like this make it all worth it. Up the Rhinos.”
Behind Rhinos and Eagles, Southern Rocks finished third on 11 points. Tuskers placed fourth on three points, level with Mega Market Mountaineers at the bottom, separated only by net run rate. The table is now closed, the season done, and Rhinos have set a marker. Winning once was a statement. Winning again, even in the rain, makes it a standard.
