Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) named all-rounder Sikandar Raza as the new captain of the T20I cricket to prepare for the 2024 T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier, set to take place in Namibia from November 22.
Zimbabwe lost 3-2 to Namibia in a five-match T20I series and the unexpected defeat forced ZC to make many important changes, one of which is the appointment of Raza as the new captain.
Raza replaced Craig Ervine as the captain of the shortest format of the game as Zimbabwe now has two captains across three formats with the latter still leading the team in Test and ODIs.
Ervine captained Zimbabwe with a 54% win rate, the highest among their T20I captains. While Raza only got the chance to lead his side in four T20Is as a stand-in captain.
Despite being responsible for one of the biggest upsets in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia where Zimbabwe beat Pakistan, they couldn't qualify directly for the 2024 T20 World Cup, to be played in the United States of America (USA) and West Indies, as they finished at the bottom of their group.
Meanwhile, in the 2021 T20 World Cup, which was played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, Zimbabwe was banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to government interference in their cricketing body.
So far, 18 teams have booked a place for the mega event and the final two spots will now be decided at the Africa qualifiers, where Zimbabwe will be competing alongside Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Namibia to finalise the last two teams for the mega event.
The 20 qualifying teams will be divided into four groups of five, from which the top two teams of every group will make their way to the Super 8 round. In that stage, qualifying teams will once again be divided into two groups of four, from which the top two teams will make their way to the semi-final and then the winners will play the final.