Sikandar Raza: Talismanic performer for Zim cricke...

Sikandar Raza: Talismanic performer for Zim cricket

Edmore Zvinonzwa

Usually, the story of immigrants in host countries is never told in episodes of success but perhaps cat and mouse games with the authorities.

But for Chevrons captain, Sikandar Raza, who has grown into a darling of Zimbabwean cricket enthusiasts, success is earned through the feats and this greatness has transcended borders to reach places where he has played with Zimbabwe’s senior cricket team in all the forms of the game – T20 and ODI, you name it.

Raza’s rise to fame was not carved through excellence in academics but rather natural talent combined with hard work put him into the limelight.

Whereas the popularity of cricket as a sport I the country is still growing, it joins several others – football, tennis, rugby and hockey among others.

The Black greats of Byron, Wayne and Cara thrust Zimbabwe into global limelight through tennis while the Golden Girls of the early eighties shone in hockey. Rugby has had its own greats in the country.

Sikandar Raza was born on April 24, 1986 in Sialkot, Pakistan and moved to Zimbabwe with his parents in 2002 and currently plays for the Zimbabwe national cricket team. In his career as a cricketer, Raza has played for a number of professional clubs both in Pakistan and in Zimbabwe.

Initially, Raza’s ambition was to become a fighter pilot from the early age and got eventually got into Air Force College but was unfortunately forced to drop out after he failed an eye test while in the third year.

Raza played First-Class cricket as a semi-professional while pursuing his bachelor's degree at the Glasgow Caledonian University, after realising his potential in the sport but only took up the elite sport as a career after completing higher studies.

After the introduction of new system of domestic cricket, he also played List A cricket originally for Northerns where he played for two years before switching to Mashonaland Eagles for whom he is playing his third spell now.

Raza made his List A debut in 2007 against Westerns where he scored just one run.

In his Twenty20 debut for the Southern Rocks in 2010 against the Desert Vipers, he made 1 off 6 balls. He turned out to be a Twenty20 specialist with the bat in 2010 as he was the leading run-scorer in the Domestic T20 Competition.

In the Metbank Pro40 Championship Final in 2010, he played an important knock against Mid-West Rhinos to win them the championship. He started to grab the attention of selectors as the result of the tournament.

Soon he made it into Zimbabwe A trials, eventually failing to get an opportunity over citizenship issues. His response to this setback was not to sulk but gave his best against Matabeleland Tuskers with a 48-ball 93. The citizenship issues were later sorted out.

“My national ODI debut was against Bangladesh on May 3, 2013, when I scored just 3 runs coming in at number 3.

“Just 8 days later, I made my national T20I debut when I played as a middle-order batsman and scored a run-a-ball 14 as Zimbabwe won the encounter,” Raza recalls.

After the citizenship issues were sorted out, he made his ODI debut against Pakistan on September 3, 2013 in which he made 60 and 24 in the first match as Pakistan won by 221 runs.

Raza, says his “inspiration is and will always be Holy Prophet Muhammad” performed so well in domestic cricket, leading him to be selected in the preliminary 30-man squad for the World Cup in 2011.

However, he did not make the final 15-member squad. Despite this, he continued to perform well with his explosive style in the shorter versions of the game grabbing the eye.

His highest point the Chittagong Test of 2014, where he had 82 and 65, alongside 4 wickets with his off-breaks.

Raza, who says hard work and sacrifice drive him, also scored 141 in an ODI against Afghanistan in 2014. He, however, had a few cameos in World Cup 2015, but redeemed himself with a scintillating 84-ball 100 not out against Pakistan soon afterwards.

He was instrumental in their 3-2 series win over Sri Lanka which was Zimbabwe’s first ever 5 match series win away from home as he was adjourned the man of the match award for his wonderful spell of 3/21 and scoring 27 runs in the series decider.

Some of his highest moments were when captained four times for Mashonaland Eagles in domestic cricket in 2012 while he also stood as Zimbabwe captain for the second T20 match in India’s tour of Zimbabwe as Elton Chigumbura was injured and the team went on to win the match by 10 runs.

He also became the youngest person to hit a fifty in T20I when he was just 17 years old. He scored two fifties and claimed a fifer which made him only the second Test cricketer to score 80 plus in both innings and take a five-wicket haul after South Africa’s Jacques Kallis.

On being named as one of the 40 most influential young persons by the Institute of Corporate Directors Zimbabwe, Raza said he feels incredibly honoured and will keep working hard on his on-field play to achieve more for Zimbabwe.

As a member of a team sport, Raza highly values team work and says his individual success is the team’s success as at the end of the day, the whole team will celebrate.

After scoring 319 runs and picking 15 wickets, Raza was named the Player of the Tournament in the 2019 World Cup Qualifiers, despite Zimbabwe failing to qualify for the World Cup in England due to a change in format which made it a 10-team tournament.

Raza suffered a serious health scare in April 2021, with a bone marrow infection initially thought to be cancerous but fortunately he made a full recovery, returning to competitive cricket after four months, finding a second wind on the comeback. He was man of the series in a remarkable home series win in ODIs and T20Is over Bangladesh.

Raza was also the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup Qualifiers for 2022, almost single-handedly punching Zimbabwe’s ticket for Australia.

On top of that, he was one of the talismanic performers at that World Cup as well, as Zimbabwe got through the group stages and got an iconic win over Pakistan.

Following this renaissance in form, Raza became hot property for franchise teams all over the world with Dubai Capitals picking him in the inaugural ILT20 league, while he played an integral role for Lahore Qalandars who won the PSL in 2023. Punjab Kings picked Raza for the 2023 IPL - his first opportunity in this tournament, registering a few handy contributions with the bat in the limited opportunities he got for the side in 2023 IPL.

Raza has grown into a man for the big occasions and is at the peak of his game and will continue to produce something special for his country although it was another tale of “so near and yet so far” for Zimbabwe in the ODI World Cup Qualifiers for 2023.

Raza, however, had a few words of wisdom to those younger than him. “You must continue working hard. Nothing lasts forever but one thing that can is lasting memories if they are good. So, make sure whatever field you are in, do it wholeheartedly, help others. Take their prayers and make the community around you a better place.”