Cricket World Cup 2023: Extraordinary Raza hits Zimbabwe’s fastest ODI century

Posted by Xchange Tickets on June 21st, 2023

Cricket World Cup 2023: Extraordinary Raza hits Zimbabwe’s fastest ODI century

In the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier match against the Netherlands, Sikandar Raza's talent was on full display. As the Dutch-handed tournament hosts Zimbabwe with a challenging goal of 316 to win the Group A match, Raza's four wickets for 55 runs were the highlight statistics.

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However, Raza's batting performance far outweighed his bowling performance. The 37-year-old broke the record for the quickest ODI century by a Zimbabwean player by scoring his tonne off just 54 balls.

When Zimbabwe completed their goal with 9.1 overs remaining, the six that brought up Raza's hundred also served as the game-winning hit. Two spots for the Cricket World Cup qualification event are up for grabs in this competition, and victory puts the hosts in a great position to advance to the Super Six stage.

Even though I'm grinning on the inside, Raza stated after winning Player of the Match, "The job's not done." "This dressing room takes great pride in ensuring that we deliver the caliber of performances that we promised the supporters.

 We support ourselves. For six games, Pakistan A was present, and we also had a 300+ run target. Additionally, the terrain has been quite favorable. The manner the Dutch boys played and found the enormous pockets for which the Sports Club is renowned caused them to exhaust us.

"We are considering the West Indies, but to be honest, we are considering every game as well. I believe that the method has received less attention than the results. When we play enjoyable games of bat and ball cricket, everything else will take care of itself.

The previous record-holder for Zimbabwe's fastest century, set just two days earlier by Sean Williams against Nepal, was shattered by Raza's outstanding performance.

Raza's late hitting on occasion was really stunning

The all-rounder's outstanding last innings saw him hit the century with a six to bring up the winning runs even though he was still 39 runs short of his century when Zimbabwe needed 42 runs to win.

Williams' quickfire 91, Craig Ervine's 50, and Joylord Gumbie's 40 helped Zimbabwe easily win the chase, and a modest Raza was hesitant to claim too much praise for his incredible performance.

"When I stepped outside, the platform was already there. All I wanted to do was simply take on everyone I can respect every ball, within myself. I didn't have the record on my mind. We primarily consider victories. I don't really care how we go to India as long as my team is winning. We share each other's happiness; just like I did for the other lads, they do the same for me. This is a contributing factor to our success.

In his post-game press conference, Raza said, "I didn't know how many balls I had faced, but in my head, the only thing that I was looking at was the runs to win the game.

"I found my rhythm, I thought I was picking the length well, and I was really adjusting to the pace of the ball. “Thanks to our collaboration with Williams, I believe we also scored quickly. Since this is how we prefer to play and take great joy in it, we just wanted to keep up the momentum. We were always ahead of the game.

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"It was special, but I wasn't thinking about getting the fastest hundred; all I cared about was winning the game."

Zimbabwe is already in a great position to advance to the Super Six stage as they take on West Indies on Saturday before wrapping up their Group A schedule against the United States on Monday.

Day 4 of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Bulawayo features Scotland's opening match against Ireland as in-form Oman takes on their own regional rivals in the UAE. Campher and company save Ireland, but the UAE batting falters in the second half.

A late middle-order comeback saw Ireland reach 286/8 at the close of the first innings, while the UAE struggled to score runs despite the efforts of Aayan Afzal Khan, Rameez Shahzad, and Vriitya Aravind.

Ireland was saved by centurion Curtis Campher (120) and George Dockrell (69) after having fallen to 33/4 at one point. Brandon McMullen shone with the ball for Scotland, taking 5/34 in seven overs.

After losing opener Paul Stirling and captain Andrew Balbirnie off consecutive deliveries in the first over, Ireland's innings got off to a horrible start. The mastermind of this horror was the young seamen Brandon McMullen.

In the fifth over, McMullen sent Harry Tector, the No. 7 batter in the MRF Tyres ICC Men's ODI Player Rankings, back to the pavilion, adding fuel to the Irish train disaster. When Mark Watt startled Lorcan Tucker with a delivery that bounced extra, the right-hander edged the ball to first slip, sealing Scotland's control of the Powerplay. 

Andy McBrine and Curtis Campher, two all-rounders, were compelled to rebuild cautiously. However, the poor run rate put more strain on the batting side, and McBrine (35), who was looking for a pull against Christopher McBride in the 19th over, was out.

The number seven-hitter for Ireland, George Dockrell, who had struck an unbroken 91 against Oman in the team's opening group game, made another significant contribution on this occasion. He stabilized the Irish batting with Campher before accelerating the scoring rate.

Before Dockrell was bowled by McMullen in the 44th over, the pair had put up 136 runs together from 25 overs. For his part, Campher continued to go for runs, and with Gareth Delany's help (19 from 14), Ireland was able to finish strongly. He mentioned his first ODI hundred on the way.

Ebix Sports announces an association with ICC for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023

The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 will have Ebix Sports as its official travel provider. Cricket World Cup fans can buy Pakistan vs Australia Tickets from our website.

A partnership between the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Ebix Sports, a branch of Ebix, has been announced for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, which will be held in India.

According to the agreement, the company will act as the official travel agency for the forthcoming ICC mega event.

The parent company of Ebix Sports, Ebix, offers comprehensive solutions for all parties involved in the insurance industry, including infrastructure exchanges, carrier systems, agency systems, risk compliance solutions, and custom software development. Ebix is a leading global provider of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, and healthcare industries.

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 will feature ten teams, much like the previous tournament. The other teams, save the host nation, India, had to win their spots through rankings and a few other methods. The ICC Cricket World Cup Super League competition, which took place from 2020 to 2023, served as the main qualification path.

As the official travel agent, just like Ebix Sports, the Indian luxury sports travel and experience company DreamSetGo joined the greatest party of 2023.

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