Sikandar Raza has not left this T20 World Cup quietly.
After scoring almost half of Zimbabwe's runs against South Africa, he also removed their openers and then their best batter on the day, Dewald Brevis, to cause a moment of "razzle", shall we call it, rather than frazzle and earn his team "respect" in their final outing at the tournament.
Raza's team were in more trouble than they have been in for most of the tournament when he came out to bat in the fifth over, with the score on 28 for 2. Only West Indies, who had them 20 for 3, ran through the top order quicker and South Africa's battery of high pace would have had Zimbabwean hearts racing.
Raza himself had a rush of blood first up when he had to react quickly to keep Anrich Nortje out. He succeeded but the ball looped off his edge over the stumps and could easily have found them. That only seemed to spur him on. The faster South Africa came in, the quicker Raza sent them away in a fearless display against some of the game's top seamers.
A short ball plan worked for South Africa at the same venue against UAE and they were determined to stick to it but Raza stayed back in his crease, waited and then responded with fast hands to hit Corbin Bosch and Nortje over the short square boundary. When Kwena Maphaka tried to cramp him for room, Raza showed the value of his experience by sending it fine for four. Later in that Maphaka over, Raza brought up his fifty off 29 balls and with time left in the innings and the way he was playing, a century was not an outrageous thought.
When South Africa changed tactics, as has become customary, to pace off, Raza read the slower balls from Nortje and Lungi Ngidi well but then did not pick up a Maphaka cutter quickly enough. As he tried to smear the ball leg side, he got a leading edge which was the only foot he put wrong in an electric innings. Raza was disgusted with himself as he walked off, threw his sweatband near the dugout in anger and stormed into the changeroom.
Whatever sense of frustration he had, he put away and came out to open the bowling perhaps for the match-up to the left-hand batter Quinton de Kock. It worked straightaway as de Kock made room to cut the third ball and edged behind. In his next over, Raza bowled Aiden Markram with a carrom ball that kept so low it snuck under the bat. South Africa were in trouble at 14 for 2 but they bat deep and back themselves to get out of tense situations.
This time they had Brevis, whose no-look six was back and came out off the first ball he faced from Graeme Cremer, to do the bulk of the work. That's why when Raza had Brevis caught by a running, sliding Ryan Burl at deep midwickwet, Raza celebrated as though he was staying at the tournament longer. He spread his arms, seemed to lift the stands as he raised them and roared to the skies.
He said it before, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, that the players wanted to own up to the part they played in Zimbabwe's previous failings. By removing Brevis and giving them a chance, that seemed to be what he was doing too. As his coach Justin Sammons said, he "saved his best for last."
Raza, though ranked the No. 1 allrounder in T20Is, has had a quiet tournament compared to his two standout team-mates, Brian Bennett and Blessing Muzarabani. While those two are at the start and in the middle of their careers, Raza is closer to the end but continues to make an impact on big stages.
This time, he has done it on the biggest stage of all and though he will turn 40 in April, it sounds as though he wants to keep going, especially amid the Zimbabwean arrival. "I'll see how it goes. One day at a time, one game at a time. I'll see how my body goes and hope to give more for my country," he said, despite how chastening the Super Eight defeats have been.
"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."
Zimbabwe's losses in over the last three games need to be analysed in the context of them changing conditions from Sri Lankan ones that suited them to India, where they had not been for a decade, alongside the usual skills and experience gaps. Raza hopes they can get more away tours so "as we can learn to be uncomfortable."
All that is dissection for another day.
On Sunday, with the campaign done, Zimbabwe got to walk out one more time to thank their small group of loyal supporters for being present. Raza wasn't with them as he accepted his Player-of-the-Match award, but once he was removed from his duties, he made straight for the group. When he reached Castle Corner, the rest of the squad was already on their way back. So he stood alone and sang with his fans. "They are part of the cricket family," he said.
The world has been rocked by events over the last couple of days but for a few this match and these reactions were a distraction. A competitive but friendly affair played out in front of a near-capacity crowd on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. It was about the simple things before the bigger challenges for both: South Africa to the semis, and Zimbabwe as they wait to hear which route they will take home with West Asian airspace still closed. They will hope to be home by next week when South Africa's coach Shukri Conrad said he and his team will do everything they can to "do them proud as well."
