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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
DEFINITELY, this has been a beautiful year for Zimbabwe cricket all-rounder Sikandar Raza. The magical script continued yesterday after he was snapped up by Punjub Kings to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) for the first time next year.
This was hardly 24 hours after he was named in the 2022 Wisden’s men’s T20I team of the year, featuring 11 of the best T20I players during the year.
The list also has the England trio of all-rounder Sam Curran, who was also bought by Punjub Kings yesterday to play alongside Raza in the upcoming IPL season, Jos Butler and Adil Rashid.
New Zealand batsman Glen Phillips, David Miller of South Africa, and the Indian pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Suryakumar Yadav also found their names in the 2022 Wisden’s men’s T20I team of the year. Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf completed the list.
But the beat continued for Raza yesterday after he was bought by Punjub Kings for a base price of 50 Lakhs (approximately US$60 000) during the IPL 2023 mini-auction held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, in Kochi.
Unfortunately, Zimbabwe will not have two players at the IPL next year after Blessing Muzarabani went unsold, for the second year running. The 26-year-old failed to attract buyers along with a host of other top players that included former England skipper Joe Root, Bangladesh Test captain Shakib Al Hasan, and South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw and Wayne Parnell.
A total of 87 entries needed to be filled across the 10 IPL teams, with 30 slots free for overseas players. A total of 991 players had registered, of which Muzarabani and Raza were among the 405 that had been shortlisted.
Muzarabani spent the 2022 season as a net bowler with the Lucknow Giants and had been fancying his luck after he was shortlisted again for the 2023 IPL mini-auction.
But it was Raza who struck gold on the first attempt. The 36-year-old became the fourth Zimbabwe player to be signed by an IPL team after Ray Price, Tatenda Taibu and Brandon Taylor.
He made the grade on the back of brilliant individual performances throughout the year. Raza impressed with his performance after leading Zimbabwe through the qualifiers of the ICC T20 World Cup in Bulawayo, where he grabbed the Man of the Tournament accolade.
He went on to play a starring role as the Chevrons reached the Super 12 stage for the first time at the ICC T20 World Cup finals in Australia in October-November.
Overall, Raza has been one of the stars for Zimbabwe in 2022. He played 24 matches this year, scoring 735 runs at an average of 35.00. He claimed 25 wickets during this period with a best of 4/8 in the final of the Qualifier tournament against the Netherlands in Bulawayo.
And, after going for the base price yesterday, some in the cricket circles felt that Raza was one of the most underrated buys.
Apart from making the 2022 Wisden’s men’s T20I team of the year, Raza was recently named in the Most Valuable Team of the Tournament at the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Raza won many admirers across the globe after leading Zimbabwe beyond the first round of the competition for the first time in six T20 World Cup appearances.
The veteran all-rounder delivered a brilliant show with both bat and ball and finished as Zimbabwe’s highest run-scorer in the tournament, with 219 runs to his name at a strike rate of 147.97.
He also picked up 10 wickets while operating at a mean economy rate of 6.50. He was outstanding with the bat to get Zimbabwe into the Super 12 stage, and his three-wicket salvo helped set up the shock win over Pakistan.
He had a remarkable tournament, winning three Man of the Match awards in the eight games that he played during the competition.
Raza also provided the best entertainment with the bat at the tournament as he finished with the highest number of sixes. He sat at the top of the table with 11 sixes and was followed by Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis and England’s semi-final hero Alex Hales with 10 apiece.
Raza is looking to add the IPL to his growing list of private gigs that includes the Abu Dhabi T10, Nepal T20 League, Lanka Premier League, Pakistan Super League and the inaugural International League T20 set for the UAE early next year.
He is set to feature in the IPL alongside Curran, son of former Zimbabwe international cricketer Kevin Curran. Although born in England, Curran has a strong Zimbabwean background as he grew up in Rusape and received his education at Springvale House in Marondera and St. George’s College, Harare.
Curran made history yesterday as he became the most expensive signing in the history of the IPL auction after going for Rs. 18.50 crore (approximately US$2.2 million).
Punjub Kings came into the season with a total budget of Rs. 32.30 crore which was the second highest in the room after 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad.
According to the Timesnownews.com, Curran broke records of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, who were retained for INR 17 crore each by their respective franchises and auction record, previously held by Chris Morris.
This marks the return of Curran to the Punjab side after his maiden season in the IPL in 2019.
Curran didn’t register for the mega auction in 2022 as he was recovering from an injury and had already agreed to play the first few matches of the County Championship for Surrey. However, since his comeback to the England white-ball side, the 24-year-old has been nothing short of sensational. He has been excellent with the ball in all phases of the game and has provided some crucial runs with the bat late in the innings.
Curran was the player of the tournament in England’s T20 World Cup-winning campaign taking 13 wickets in the tournament, including a five-wicket haul against Afghanistan in his side’s opening game of the tournament.
His all-round skills made him the most sought after player in the auction.
Online Reporter