T20 WC: Zimbabwe Sign Off With Warm Gesture For Their Faithful Castle Corner

T20 WC: Zimbabwe sign off with warm gesture for their faithful Castle Corner (Image Source: IANS)

Harare Sports Club: Zimbabwe’s Castle Corner supporters, known for their singing and dancing at Harare Sports Club, drew attention throughout the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup and made their presence felt hugely during the Super Eights clash at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.

Amidst the 24,500 fans – the number shot up from 17,500 at the start – the Castle Corner fans seated in the far east corner of the Gautam Gambhir stand drew everyone’s attention with their singing, dancing and cheering for the Zimbabwe team. The six-member club cheered when Zimbabwe had victories over Australia and Sri Lanka and topped Group B to enter the Super Eights.

Though Zimbabwe lost all three matches in the Super Eights, the generous Castle company stepped in to fund the travel of those six fans and eventually five of them attended the games in Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi.

Captain Sikandar Raza was unable to join his teammates in acknowledging the fans immediately after the final game, as he was held back for Player of the Match interview. By the time he finished, the rest of the squad had already departed the field after engaging and thanking the Castle Corner.

Raza then made his way alone to that of the ground where the supporters were gathered, and began waving, singing and saluting them in appreciation, in a gesture that reflected the bond between the Zimbabwe team and its fans.

Raza, who produced an exceptional all-round performance – 73 with bat and 3-29 with the ball - in what may have been one of his final innings in the format, was effusive in his affection for the Castle Corner.

"Regarding the Castle Corner, firstly, we have a personal relation with them. We know each member of the Castle Corner with their names. We know their families, their kids, and everything. They are not just fans for us. They are pretty much part of our cricketing family. So our relation with Castle Corner runs a lot deeper than just our relation with fans," he said, while replying to a query from IANS in the post-match press conference.

He also took a moment to address the wider Delhi crowd, who cheered for Zimbabwe. "Lastly, on the crowd in Delhi, I just want to say thank you very much. The chanting of Zimbabwe, the support you guys have showed us, and the respect and love you guys have shown us. I'm going home with a lot of very fond memories, and I'll forever be grateful to this Delhi crowd," Raza added.

Head coach Justin Sammons echoed his captain's sentiments on the Castle Corner. "They're a great bunch of supporters, and they're passionate. We're very, very fortunate that they were able to come over and support us, and we appreciate it. It does go a long way, and it means a lot to the players as well," he said in the mixed zone.

Raza described a collective decision to take responsibility for the state of Zimbabwe cricket and rebuild it from within, after missing the 2023 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. “I'll give you a very simple answer. What changed was that we just changed our culture. Either we can blame the management, the resources, or we can blame ourselves.

“As a team we agreed that it is our fault that Zimbabwe was in that mess. So once we sort of agreed on that, that it is our fault, then we took it upon ourselves, this 16-18 group of guys that we had, that it is going to be us who is going to take Zimbabwe out of this mess. Once we do that, along the way we're going to try and earn a lot of respect from the world. So once we agreed on that, there was no turning back,” he said.

“It's definitely in a better space. If we look back 18 months ago, we were playing in Kenya in the sub-regional qualifiers against Gambia, Seychelles and Mozambique. So that's only 18 months ago and that's the reality of where we were. To come here and top the group is a massive achievement for this group of players.”

“So we're certainly in a better place. The core group is quite young as well. We've got the senior players, but generally I think the majority of these players can actually be together for the next couple of years and come 2028 in terms of T20 stuff, they'll have another couple of years behind them and have had this experience to grow from. So I certainly think it's a group that we can really work with building and moving forward.”

Sammons also agreed that Raza saved his best for Zimbabwe’s last game. “I think it would mean a lot to him. He's got high standards, he's a proud man and he wants to do Zimbabwe proud. I think he did that today and did it throughout the tournament. With the bat, he was good. He's had a good tournament with the bat. Probably not at his best with the ball up until today. Like you say, he saved his best for last, so he had an exceptional game.”

Raza is 39 and is in the twilight of his career, but he promised to assess his international availability on a game to game basis. "I'll see how it goes. One day and game at a time. I'll see how my body goes and hope to give more for my country. It has been a real eye-opener. We now know the combinations that we need, we know what needs to be done to be a mid-table team, we now know where the areas we need to get better at.

“We now know how the game has moved, how the game progressed, with smaller grounds, bigger grounds, with slower grounds and things like that. We have now learned how tough it is at times to travel and play, which we now know how to manage.

“Even though we lost the game, these lessons have been so valuable. Hopefully if we find Zimbabwe in a similar position next time, we can at least do better than what we have done now."

Sammons also had similar views to share, while noting that the execution of their plans went awry once their campaign moved to India. Sri Lanka is very different and conditions did suit us - slower wickets, bigger outfields, that type of thing. We're here as at the end of the day, execution has to be on point. There's no room for error and we weren't good enough from an execution point of view here, particularly with the ball.

“I think with the bat, we showed glimpses of some good stuff. But also not consistent enough with that. But certainly I think the ultimate will come down to execution. It's as simple as that really. The biggest takeaway should be that we can compete with the best. I think the group needs to take confidence from that. I would say that is the biggest takeaway, especially from the group stages.

Sammons also had similar views to share, while noting that the execution of their plans went awry once their campaign moved to India. Sri Lanka is very different and conditions did suit us - slower wickets, bigger outfields, that type of thing. We're here as at the end of the day, execution has to be on point. There's no room for error and we weren't good enough from an execution point of view here, particularly with the ball.

Zimbabwe's World Cup is over and they face a nervy wait over their return plans due to the shutdown of airspace in the middle east. But judging by the scenes in New Delhi on Sunday, the bond between this team and the Castle Corner will go from strength to strength and there’s no denying that.

Article Source: IANS