Thomas Draca Exclusive: Hardik Pandya, ‘special’ pendant and T20 World Cup dream
“The fact that we qualified for the Super 8s didn’t change the ultimate goal we set for ourselves. Like I said, it’s just ticking a box, but we’ve got a lot of other goals to achieve and everyone likes an underdog story, right?” Raza said.He reflected on Zimbabwe’s long qualifying journey, including the sub-regional stage with Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.“I’ll take you back to when we were playing the B sub-regional qualifiers and we were playing Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and all those teams. And I remember standing up to my soldiers and saying that we’re in this position or in this mess, whatever you want to call it, because of us. It’s nobody else’s fault. And only we who can do it will get out of it. So only we who win this can do it? qualifiers? B, regional sub-regional B, then the main qualifiers took place which we also won,” he said.Zimbabwe now enter a tough Super 8 group along with defending champions India, 2024 runners-up South Africa and two-time winners West Indies, who need a top-two finish to progress to the semi-finals.“Yeah, definitely. Me and the coach will sit down. We have watched Sri Lanka in the last three matches as well. We will have data on them and try to give our best and try to win that match. That’s the point of being here,” Raza said of their preparation.“I think with all the conditions that we’re going to be in, if we find a day or two to practice, I think we’re going to sum up the conditions really well and hopefully make those plans. One thing you can’t fight is the weather and the conditions. So we try to learn those conditions if we can have two, three practice days in a particular city, wherever we’re going.”Before the start of the Super 8s, Zimbabwe will face co-hosts Sri Lanka in their final group stage match at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Thursday.