Sikandar Raza
Zimbabwe’s ODI and T20I captain Sikandar Raza has made it clear that his country’s possible entry into the World Test Championship (WTC) for the 2027-30 cycle will not change his plan to retire after next year’s 50-over World Cup in Africa. Zimbabwe will co-host the 2027 ODI World Cup with South Africa and Namibia. For the 40-year-old all-rounder, the tournament will offer an opportunity to play a World Cup on home soil towards the end of his career.
“The fact that I am coming to the end of my career as well, and to have an opportunity to play a home World Cup is certainly a blessing for me from a personal point of view,” Raza said, as quoted by news agency PTI. “Every cricketer dreams of having retired or to retire after playing a cricketing World Cup,” he added. That’s not me,” he said.
“I’ll not be a guy who will, when the time comes, call it off and then say, ‘I’m taking my retirement back. It will not happen.
Zimbabwe’s match against India on October 24, 2027, will also be the first World Cup fixture at the newly built Mosi-oa-Tunya International Cricket Stadium in Victoria Falls.
He said the team might take time to perform well in the competition initially, but the experience would help improve its results across formats. Our performances will get better, and not just in Test cricket,” he said. “If that happens, I will be the first guy who will be in support of that. If Zimbabwe is part of WTC, we might not be able to do well at the start, but one thing I do know…our cricketing growth eventually — not eventually, quickly — will go up.