Perth, Oct 27: Words of motivation from the legendary Ricky Ponting inspired Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza as he played a key role in his side’s stunning one-run win over former champions Pakistan in the T20 World Cup here on Thursday.
Raza came up with yet another brilliant performance as he took three wickets for 25 runs from his quota of four overs to play a key role in the massive upset and grabbed his third man-of-the-match award.
“One more thing I thought. There was a small clip sent to me this morning of Ricky Ponting having a small word. I was excited, I was nervous, I was thrilled about today,” Raza said at the post-match presentation.
“The motivation was always there but if I needed a little push, I thought that clip did a wonder so thanks very much to Ricky as well.” Overcome with emotions, the Pakistan-born Raza was at loss of words.
“I think I’m lost for words. My throat’s dry, probably because of all the emotions. I can’t tell you how proud I am of this bunch of boys,” Raza said.
Zimbabwe punched above their weight and stunned Pakistan by one run in a nail-biting match.
Defending a modest 131, Zimbabwe stifled the Pakistani batters and picked up wickets at regular intervals to stop their fancied rivals at 129 for eight.
Raza turned the match on its head in the middle overs with figures of 3 for 25 from his four overs, which included the wickets of Shan Masood (44), Shahdab Khan (17) and Haider Ali.
Right-arm pacer Brad Evans returned with figures of 2/25, while Blessing Muzarabani (1/18) and Luke Jongwe (1/10) also picked up wickets, to help their side to an incredible win.
It was Pakistan’s second defeat in as many matches after the four-wicket loss to arch-rivals India in another thrilling contest.
For Zimbabwe, it was their first win from two matches. The African side had earlier split points with South Africa following a washout.
All-rounder Mohammad Nawaz (22) kept Pakistan in the hunt in the company of Mohammad Wasim Jr and brought down the equation to 11 in the last over. However, the Pakistani batters failed to achieve the target.
This was after fast bowler Wasim (4/24) and Shadab Khan (3/23) shared seven wickets between them to derail Zimbabwe after a fine start. (PTI)
