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Eddie Chikamhi, Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE’S old hands led by Brendan Taylor and a new crop of upcoming cricket talent, represented by Brian Bennett, are set to combine efforts today as the Chevrons begin the hunt for honours in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup against tricky opponents, Oman.
The match is billed to commence at 11:30AM (CAT) at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo.
And, for the Chevrons, this encounter carries a lot of weight in their quest to qualify for the prestigious Super Eight phase from Group B which also has Ireland and two former world champions Australia and Sri Lanka.
Zimbabwe need to banish the memories of failing to qualify for the previous edition held in USA and the West Indies in 2024.
Captain Sikandar Raza spoke keenly about the return to the big stage, when addressing a pre-match press conference yesterday.
“I love these sorts of tournaments,” he said.
“Sri Lanka is a wonderful place to host the tournament. We love being here as well.
“So, what I’m looking for is hopefully that we can leave a mark at this World Cup so that when we go back home, our people back home are proud of what we have done and also when we leave Sri Lanka as well, even the Sri Lankan fans.
“Sri Lankan people, we have managed to turn them as fans and they’ll be wishing and rooting for us wherever Zimbabwe goes and plays. So hopefully earn a lot more respect here and go home with a head high,” said Raza.
From the onset the plan has been to make the most of the two games against Oman and Ireland, which they believe are more winnable, and then target an upset against one of the two Group B heavyweights to boost chances of progressing to the Super Eight.
But the Chevrons face a potential banana skin against Oman. Although Oman come with a small profile, they showed they are capable of causing upsets when they beat Zimbabwe by four wickets in a warm-up match last Thursday.
The Chevrons posted a competitive total of 187/7 in that match but Oman went on to win the match with a few balls to spare.
This could have come as a timely reality check for Justin Sammons’ men who had beaten Netherlands by 29 runs two days earlier, and Raza said he was not looking much into those results.
“Warm-ups are there just for the indication. I mean, you don’t look too much into it,” he said.
“It was just to make sure that, because we haven’t played any T20 cricket for the last two and a half months. So, we had a camp in Hambantota for a week. We came here (Colombo).
“So, warm-up sort of gives you an indication and sort of tells you where the boys are at. I personally think, as a team, we got what we wanted out of those warm-ups. Ideally, we had wanted to win both games as well.
“But most importantly, there was a bigger picture,” said Raza.
At 39 years, he is one of the three most senior players who could be playing their last T20 World Cup this year, along with former captains Graeme Cremer (also 39) and Brandon Taylor.
Taylor, who celebrated his 40th birthday last Friday, is the only player at the current T20 World Cup who also featured in the first edition of the tournament in 2007.
The top order batsman will look back with mixed emotions, especially when reminiscing on his unbeaten 45-ball 60 that helped Zimbabwe beat Australia at the inaugural 2007 World T20 in South Africa.
Raza, who comes into the tournament as the world’s number one all-rounder, hinted on the possibility of a swansong.
“Yeah, it possibly could be,” Raza told journalists yesterday.
“But I think it’s the impact more than the results we want to leave. It’s how, when we leave these youngsters, what sort of a message is, what sort of a grooming we did for them, what sort of a culture and environment we left for them to follow on, what sort of a team bonding and how to manage your teammates and how to deal with them and things like that.
“So, there’s a lot more that goes in building a team rather than just the performances. So even if it’s the last World Cup for the three of us, I think all three of us can hold our head high and I think we have done a fantastic job in building a team and the culture and the environment around the boys so that even when we are gone, they can take the team forward in the dignified and honourable way and hopefully achieve a lot more success.”
The Zimbabwe side made its debut in the global tournament back in 2007. They suffered exits from the group stages in 2010 and 2012. They were eliminated in the first round in 2014 and 2016 before managing a Super 12 finish in 2022.
A new generation of cricket stars headlined by inform 22-year-old opener Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Dion Myers and Tashinga Musekiwa is expected to play a big part in this year’s campaign.
Bennett is one of the players to watch out for from the Zimbabwe side after a bright showing of nine fifties and a 100 in 52 innings played inside two years.
Skipper Raza, Taylor, Cremer and the fast bowlers Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava are expected to steer Zimbabwe’s attack.
Sammons has set the Super Eight qualification as the benchmark for his team.
“Obviously moving into this competition, again, we understand the standards that we need to sort of deliver, the skill set that we need to deliver under pressure as well.
“So, I think it does boil down to, you know, are we able to execute our skills under pressure during this tournament?” Sammons told Zimpapers Sports Hub.
Oman’s strength is its bowling, with Jiten Ramanandi, Sufyan Mehmood and Nadeem Khan having all enjoyed plenty of success of late.
Skipper Jatinder Singh troubled Zimbabwe with the bat during the warm-up match and could be a key figure again today.
Oman will be making their fourth appearance in the T20 showpiece while for Zimbabwe, this is a seventh appearance.
Online Reporter