Sikandar Raza- Biogaphy
Sikandar Raza Butt was born on the 24th of April 1986. He is a Pakistani-born Zimbabwean international cricket player. Sikandar Raza plays all formats primarily as a batter.
Personal Life
Raza was born in Sialkot and emigrated to Zimbabwe in 2002 along with his family. He went on to become one of the best batsmen in the domestic competition. His performance caught the eye of the Zimbabwe selectors. He was granted citizenship issues in 2011.
Raza was born in Sialkot to a Punjabi and spoke Kashmiri. He did his studies at the Pakistan Air Force Public School Lower Topa for three years. His aspiration was to be a Pakistan Air Force pilot. But his dreams were cut short when he failed a vision test that was mandatory for selection in the Pakistan airforce at that time.
In 2002, Raza shifted with his family to Zimbabwe. He went to Scotland and pursued a bachelor’s degree in software engineering at the Glasgow Caledonian University. At the University, Raza played semi-professional cricket and realized his potential.
Domestic Career
After the revamping of Zimbabwe’s domestic structure in 2009, Raza got the chance to play first-class cricket for the Mashonaland Eagles. He is a successful first-class cricket player and has a top score of 146.
Raza used to play List A cricket originally for Northerns but later switched to play for Mashonaland Eagles. He made his List A debut in the year 2007.[7] He made his Twenty20 debut playing for the Southern Rocks in 2010 against the Desert Vipers.
Raza turned out to be a T20 expert. He became the leading run-scorer in the 2010 Stanbic Bank T20 Competition.
In the Metbank Pro40 Championship Final in 2010, Raza went on to score a brilliant 44 for Southern Rocks. They cruised to the title playing against Mid-West Rhinos. This match was his first big performance that caught the selectorial eye. In January 2011, Raza achieved his career best List-A score which was 80 runs.
Raza’s performances helped him earn a place in the preliminary squad for Zimbabwe’s 2011 Cricket World Cup campaign. But he failed to make it to the final 15-man squad. By then, he displayed another fine performance at the Masvingo Sports Club. His opening stand of 161 with Chamu Chibhabha was put up simply by bludgeoning the Matabeleland Tuskers bowlers. His score led the foundation for a massive Southern Rocks victory. This made the Zimbabwean selectors take in Raza for the training squad for the Australia A and South Africa A tri-series.
The only issue that stood in the way was he did not have citizenship status. But he was granted citizenship in September 2011. By then, he displayed another remarkable performance. Raza scored 93 off just 48 balls for Southern Rocks playing against Matabeleland Tuskers.
Opening the innings with the legendary West Indian Brian Lara and having support from Elton Chigumbura, Raza fueled the Matabeleland Tuskers’s bowling attack. He represented a Zimbabwe XI side before the Bangladesh tour to Zimbabwe was initiated. Zimbabwe XI won both the matches.
On the 3rd of June 2018, Raza was included to play for the Montreal Tigers in the players’ draft. The draft was for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament.
In October 2018, Raza was selected for Tshwane Spartans’ squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament. Later the same month, he was selected for the squad for the Chittagong Vikings team. He was visible in the draft for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League.
In July 2019, Raza was included to play for the Amsterdam Knights in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament. However, the very next month the tournament got canceled. In July 2020, he was selected for the Trinbago Knight Riders squad preparing for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League.
In December 2020, Raza was included in the squad of the Southern Rocks in the 2020–21 Logan Cup.
International Career
Raza made his ODI debut for Zimbabwe in May 2013 playing against Bangladesh. He went on to score 3 runs batting at no. 3. He became the 116th player to appear for Zimbabwe in the format.
Raza scored 82 runs off 112 deliveries with 6 fours and two sixes against India in his 4th ODI. Raza scored 60 runs on his debut playing against Pakistan at Harare Sports Club. In this match, he had a 127-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Despite scoring a half-century on his Test debut on 3 September 2013, he was replaced by the Zimbabwean captain Brendan Taylor who returned to the team. He played for Zimbabwe in Cricket World Cup 2015. His World Cup performance was appreciative, but he impressed many with his Bowling. Raza made 100 runs off 84 deliveries playing against Pakistan in May 2015 at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.
Raza made his T20I debut on 5 November 2013 playing against Bangladesh. He is the youngest person to hit a fifty in T20 International. He achieved this honor when he was just crossed 17 years old.
Raza was given a stand-in captain position in the second T20I during the India tour of Zimbabwe in 2015. Before this, he was the captain four times for Mash Eagles in domestic cricket in 2012. He captained Zimbabwe in their first win of the tour by 10 runs.
In 2014, Raza, along with Hamilton Masakadza, established the highest partnership for Zimbabwe in One Day International cricket(224 for the first wicket). In fact, this became the highest ever opening run stand for Zimbabwe in ODIs. Raza jointly with Tendai Chisoro placed the highest record 9th wicket partnership for Zimbabwe in ODI cricket. During the second match against New Zealand in 2015, he scored the third century of his career off 95 deliveries.
The highlight of Raza’s match-winning ability came to the surface during the Zimbabwe tour to Sri Lanka in 2017. He provided his guidance to Zimbabwe to win the final ODI to seal the series 3–2, their first ever series win against Sri Lanka. It was recorded as their first away series win since 2009. It was their first away series win against a Test nation after defeating Bangladesh in 2001. This match also recorded Zimbabwe’s first win in a five-match series away from home. Raza was awarded the man of the match title for his match-winning knock in the final ODI.
In the same tour, Raza nailed his maiden Test century. Despite his performance, Sri Lanka went to chase 389 runs and won the one-off test. This win recorded the highest chase on Asian soil.
During the second test playing against West Indies, Raza knocked his maiden Test haul by taking five wickets in the second innings. Raza scored two fifties and registered himself as the only second Test cricketer to score 80 plus in both innings and take a five-wicket haul after Proteas Jacques Kallis. Due to his performance, Zimbabwe was able to draw the match. This earned Raza the prestigious man of the match award. This draw gave Zimbabweans their first draw in a period of 12 years. This was the first time they avoided a loss since 2013 in 10 Tests.
In February 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) included Raza’s name as one of the ten players to watch ahead of the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament. He was awarded the Player of The Tournament award for scoring 319 runs and 15 wickets during the Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.
In January 2020, in the second Test playing against Sri Lanka, he took the second-best bowling figures in an innings for a Zimbabwe bowler in Test cricket with 7 for 113 in 43 overs. On 6 March 2020, in the third match playing against Bangladesh, Raza completed his 100th ODI match.
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