West Indies suffered its first defeat in the ODI World Cup qualifiers 2023 against Zimbabwe by 35 runs at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
Chasing a 268-run total, West Indies collapsed from 110 for three to 220 for eight before eventually being bundled out at 233 .
All-rounder Sikandar Raza shone with a 58-ball 68 before picking up wickets of Windies captain Shai Hope and Keemo Paul.
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This was West Indies’ first defeat in seven years against Zimbabwe and 11th overall across 50 meetings in ODIs.
Despite its first defeat in three matches, West Indies is likely to move to the Super Sixes stage of the competition.
The top three teams in each group will then progress to super six stage where they will play teams coming from the other group.
The top teams will qualify for the World Cup in India and also a final for the trophy, but that result won’t affect the qualification of the team.
After defeating Shai Hope, West Indies captain said: “Too much is on my mind right now, not sure if I can explain it. Lot of hurting and very disappointed but the tournament is not over yet. The aim is to play our best cricket, regardless of whoever we play. We let ourselves down int eh field and that cost us. If we were asked to chase (that score) before the game, we would have taken it. There will be challenges, both on and off the field. We have to make sure we harden ourselves and understand what we have to do moving forward. (Wish-list moving forward) I think it is best for us to have a day off to get all of this out of our systems and come back on Monday. We know we have our work cut out. (On what went wrong) Catches, plain and simple. We always ask our bowlers to create chances and they did. And then, (we made mistakes) with the bat.”