Ravi Bopara shares an inspiring Whatsapp conversation with Sikandar Raza after Zimbabwe’s win over Pakistan

Zimbabwe shocked Pakistan after their 1-run-win in a thrilling encounter in the 20-20 World Cup on Thursday at Perth. Pakistan failed to chase down the target of 130 as Zimbabwe registered a historic win on the final ball of the game. Sikandar Raza was awarded Player of the Match for picking three wickets for 25 runs in four overs. After the game, former English Cricketer Ravi Bopara shared a Whatsapp chat with Raza where the Zimbabwe player had predicted Zimbabwe’s chances at the 20-20 World Cup.

Bopara took to Twitter and shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp chat with Raza in which they are talking about Zimbabwe’s chances of winning this World Cup. The chat gives a peek into Raza’s mindset and how determined he is about the tournament.

In the post-match presentation, Raza credited a clip of Ricky Ponting praising him for his match-winning performance.

“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.”

Coming back to the match, Zimbabwe could only manage to score 130/8 after electing to bat first. Sean Williams finished as the top-scorer of the innings scoring 31 off 28 balls with the help of three fours. Muhammad Wasim junior was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan who scalped four wickets for 24 runs in his four overs. Shadab Khan also picked up three wickets for 23 runs.

In reply to Zimbabwe’s total, Pakistan’s chase got off to a miserable start as they lost openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the third and fourth over of the innings. Shan Masood tried to stabilise the innings with his knock of 44 off 38 but Sikandar Raza’s brilliant spell in the middle brought Zimbabwe back into the match. Brad Evans defended 11 runs in the final over to guide his team to a thrilling win.