• Raza says Zimbabwe has great opportunity to achieve something special in this tournament.
• He says winning match is more important than winning man of the match trophy.
• I’m not going to start looking or thinking about the semifinal, says Raza.

Perth: Zimbabwean cricketer Sikandar Raza feels that his side’s win over Pakistan in ICC T20 World Cup is best win for him since he has started playing cricket for Zimbabwe.

Sialkot born Raza took 3 wickets conceding 25 runs to help his side beat Pakistan by one run. A result that has made the group 2 of super 12 wide open for all the teams.

“I think since I’ve been part of Zimbabwe cricket, I will read this as the best victory we’ve had because there’s no better stage than this. The World Cup is the biggest stage of all and to beat Pakistan by one run defending the modest total, you have to do everything right to defend that, which we did. So, for me, that’s probably the best victory since I’ve been part of Zimbabwe,” he said at the press conference after the match.

“As I said, we were 15 or 20 runs short but I really truly believes in this group of boys. We knew that if we can field well and take all our chances and cut those important twos, we could really win this game.” Raza said.

The all-rounder said that Zimbabwe has a great opportunity to achieve something special in this tournament but the team is looking to take one game at a time and focus is now shifted to the match against Bangladesh.

“It’s quite nice to be here with group wide open now and not just wide open, but that Zimbabwe has got a really good chance to achieve something. I’m not going to start looking or thinking about the semifinal. I’m going to take one game at a time and look at Bangladesh and take it from there,” he said.

“I generally believe in this group of boys but what we have done is open the group for everyone who plays good cricket can basically win and you never know where Zimbabwe end up,” he said.

Replying to question, Raza said that for him winning the match was more important for him than winning the man of the match trophy.

When asked about his own performance this year, Sikandar said that if there is one word that could sum up everything about his performance then for him that word is Alhamdulillah.

Sikandar revealed that he couldn’t sleep much last night and kept thinking about the game against Pakistan.

“For Zimbabweans, a lot of the learning is on the job. We don’t get to play top nations a lot. We don’t get to play under light a lot. So, a lot of my learning and a lot of Zimbabweans learning is actually on the day of the game. I had few ideas and I made few notes. And I was in my head, my body was sleeping, but my mind was constantly spinning, reading thinking about the game,” he recalled.

The 36-year-old also mentioned how a video posted by ICC featuring Ricky Ponting has motivated him.

“A friend of mine sent me a message and said, have you seen a clip on ICC page? And I said no, he said before I ruin it for you maybe have a look. And that was Ricky Ponting talking about Zimbabwean and in particular me. Some of my friends and family members message and they said they had a kind of tear in the eye for me, I had goosebumps one of the greats of this game talking about Zimbabwe, and in particular me. Not that I needed an extra kick but if I needed one that that clip did the job for me,” he concluded.