Red-hot Chevrons all-rounder Sikandar Raza ready to take on West Indies

Man-of-the-moment, Zimbabwe Cricket (The Chevrons) all-rounder Sikandar Raza says the team is prepared to face former World Champions West Indies.

Zimbabwe are set for a litmus test when they take on West Indies at the Harare Sports Club (HSC) in a Group A ICC World Cup Qualifier on Saturday.

The much awaited match comes after the Chevrons registered back-to-back victories over Nepal and Netherlands.

They beat Nepal by eight wickets in the opening match and fan favourite Raza helped them chase a target of 316 runs to beat Netherlands by six wickets.

The pint-sized gifted cricketer who was voted man-of-the-match after the game, made history by scoring the fastest century for Zimbabwe in a ODI match.

He scored 102 runs not out after facing 54 balls and collected four wickets for 55 balls in 10 overs.

The Pakistan born cricketer who has had stellar performances for over a year now will be probably hoping to replicate his form when they play Indies on Saturday.

Already, he has showed his confidence ahead of the highly anticipated mouth-watering encounter.

“We are thinking about the West Indies and we are also thinking about every other game as well, to be honest.

“Right now we have just played Holland and we played a very good brand of cricket,” he said after the Netherlands match victory on Tuesday.

“I think a lot of focus has been placed on the results but not really the process. We just want to play entertaining cricket whether we have ball in hand or bat in hand.

“Things will look after themselves; we have home support behind our backs so we just enjoy the fact that we have had a very good game (against the Netherlands) and we need to regroup and start looking at the West Indies.

“Of course, it’s a champion team and we have all the respect for them but come Saturday, all we want is to be well-prepared for that game and take that game head on,” added Raza.

Raza believes coach Dave Houghton is steering the ship ‘very well’ since replacing the Chevrons gaffer Lalchand Rajput who failed dismally in 2022.

The cricket star is also confident of his teammates ahead of Saturday’s game.