The Harare Sports Club erupted with joy after the home team Zimbabwe won for the first time against the two-time 50-over World Champions, West Indies. It was a thrilling game in the end with Zimbabwe showing sheer grit and resilience to hold on to their nerves and register a win which saw them move up to the number one spot in the points table for Group A.
Both the West Indies and Zimbabwe entered the game as the two unbeaten sides in the tournament so far. After losing the toss, Zimbabwe were put into bat on a pitch that had some help for the bowlers upfront. Having been invited to bat first, the host started steadily but lost wickets at regular intervals leaving them reeling at 112/4 in 24.4 overs. But then walked in Sikandar Raza (68), the man who has been enjoying a phenomenal run in 2023. Raza then combined with Ryan Burl (50) to provide solidity and help Zimbabwe get to a decent total.
Eventually, with the help of some useful contributions from the lower order Zimbabwe did manage to put up a fighting total of 268 runs on the board giving West Indies a total of 269 to chase. West Indies did have a steady start in the beginning with seemed to have lost track in the middle phase of the innings. The top and the middle order of the team got started but none of them went on to convert those starts into a match-winning total and the visitors were bundled out for 233 runs falling short by 35 runs.
The fans turned up in huge numbers citing this victory from Zimbabwe as the side has been in phenomenal form this year. Here are some of the tweets;
Zimbabwe to pak and afg
Dekho kaise khelna world champions se pic.twitter.com/zY06CxIlwV— Jetha Hi?tler (@sterns_haschen) June 24, 2023
So sad seeing the slow demise of West Indian cricket… they clearly have the grass roots talent, but that’s been drained by lack of success and the lure of other sports… but on the other hand, great to see Zimbabwe climb again.
— Anthony Spiteri (@anthonyspiteri) June 24, 2023
Warra downfall for West Indies in World Cricket
— Virat Kohli Worldwide (@ViratianTweets) June 24, 2023
? aur ek apne wale hai ipl bully
— Wellu (@Wellutwt) June 24, 2023
Zimbawe thought they were playing against Pakistan ??
— ? ? ? ? (@_ILoveNovels) June 24, 2023
Once a most threating team of World, now is struggling to qualify for world cup. Unreal downfall of West Indies
— khushanshu (@no1khush) June 24, 2023
Zimbabwe ??????https://t.co/1xulB5OzEo
— Raazi (@Rg86037221) June 24, 2023
meanwhile pakistan: pic.twitter.com/GRnuNyc12X
— uday ? (@UdayMallikarjun) June 24, 2023
Sikandar Raza was adjourned as the Player of the Match for his match-saving innings of 68 (58) followed by a brilliant bowling spell in which Raza end up with a figure of 2/36 in the eight overs that he bowled.
