ZIMBABWE cricket team captain Hamilton Masakadza feels his charges have a good chance of delivering a memorable performance in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 competition to be held in India next month.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
This year’s edition of the ICC World T20 tournament will take place from March 8 and Zimbabwe will start in the first round, where they have been placed in Group B alongside Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Scotland.
Should Zimbabwe sail through from their first round group, they will join England, neighbours South Africa, defending champions Sri Lanka and the West Indies in the Super 10 stage.
Hamilton Masakadza
Zimbabwe left the country last night for the United Arab Emirates, where they will intensify preparations with matches against the hosts and West Indies in Sharjah.
Masakadza, who will lead the 15-member squad that includes experienced players such as his predecessor Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda, Sean Williams and Tinashe Panyangara, said his charges could only continue after a difficult 2015.
“From where we are starting, we can only go forward from there,” he said on the sidelines of the team’s sending-off ceremony on Thursday evening.
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“We didn’t have the best of years in 2015 in terms of results and I believe we can only get better. The guys are really looking forward to the tournament and are all very motivated to start getting the positive results.”
After a bright start to the year, the Chevrons sank to a new lows towards the end of 2015, with back-to-back series defeats to minnows Afghanistan.
Zimbabwe, however, started the New Year on a bright note, completing a memorable comeback against a vastly improved Bangladesh side.
Having lost the opening two matches of their Twenty20 series in Dhaka, Zimbabwe rallied back in style to win the last two matches to finish the four-match series level.
Masakadza admitted that Afghanistan would pose their biggest hurdle in their quest to qualify for the Super 10 stage, but said they had learnt a lot from their previous battles with the fast improving subcontinent side.
“Obviously, the first target is to get through that qualifying stage and we will take it from there. Yes, Afghanistan have been a difficult side for us in recent times, but I think we have learnt a lot from the games that we have played against them in recent months. Some of the games that they beat us were really close and we just couldn’t get over the line, but I’m confident that this time, we will manage to get over the line. We will be looking to get one over them at the most important stage,” he said.
Masakadza, who is expected to lead from the front in India, after a recent run of impressive from with the bat, described his ascent to the captaincy only two months after being dropped as a roller coaster.
“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster. I was on a really, really bad low when I was left out of the team, but things have been better for me now. Being captain is a big honour. It’s something that I have been aspiring to do for a very long time,” he said.
Zimbabwe squad for World T20: Hamilton Masakadza (capt), Sean Williams, Tendai Chatara, Wellington Masakadza, Tinashe Panyangara, Peter Moor, Elton Chigumbura, Sikandar Raza, Richmond Mutumbami (wk), Luke Jongwe, Tendai Chisoro, Neville Madziva, Malcolm Waller, Vusi Sibanda, Graeme Cremer, Donald Tiripano (stand-by)
