dyton mupawaenda
Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE international cricketer Sikandar Raza was the centre of attraction under the lights at Chepauk Stadium as he scored the winning runs in a historic last ball thriller against giants Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League match on Sunday night.
Raza underlined his qualities as a superb finisher for Punjab Kings as his side chased down the highest successful total against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk.
Kings won the match by four wickets. Raza was denied the boundary at the decisive moment but still managed to run three off the final delivery to seal the victory.
Chasing 201 for victory, Liam Livingstone (40), Sam Curran (29) and Jitesh Sharma (21) played attacking cameos before the Zimbabwean all-round sealed the win with his unbeaten 13 runs from seven deliveries.
Raza was over the moon after the win after the incredible win.
“Alhamdulillah (praise be to God) for the win Incredible game of cricket and to be on the winning side is a great and humbling feeling. A total team effort to pull this win off. We March on,” he posted on his Twitter.
Raza emphasised to the Indian media that, coming from a Zimbabwean culture, he emphasised winning rather than individual performances.
“Every time you win a match for your team it’s a good feeling. Coming from the Zimbabwe culture, we put more emphasis on winning rather than individual performances,” said Raza. He also mentioned a conversation that occurred among the Punjab Kings team before the final delivery, where they required three runs to emerge victorious.
He said the team may have considered substituting one of the batters with a better runner for the last ball to improve their chances of scoring the winning run.
“I was just looking at a lot of arms being raised in the dressing room. Maybe it was about retiring one of the guys. We said we were one boundary away from run-a-ball (in the final over), and if we can’t get that, we’ll run well,” he added.
Raza has also received rave reviews from the Indian press for his exciting performances.
The Indian Express reported: “It was Sikandar Raza’s moment under the glittering IPL skies. The only player from Zimbabwe in this league, the all-rounder’s acquisition was ridiculed.
“His continued selection in the playing eleven questioned. But here he was, holding his nerves and scraping Punjab Kings to a last-ball thriller for ages.
“He did not do it the flamboyant way. His team required seven of the last four balls of the game. He missed the first, inside-edged the next ball for a couple to deep midwicket, and mistimed another double to square.
“Three required of the last ball, he hung back anticipating a short ball from Matheesha Pathirana. A short of length cutter it turned out to be and Raza threw the proverbial kitchen sink at it.
“He could not get ample wood onto the short-ball, but found the perfect placement as the ball dribbled into the space between deep fine leg and deep midwicket.
“Raza and his partner Shahrukh Khan ran the run of their lives to complete the three. Raza once aspired to become a fighter jet pilot. And like a jet plane he jetted off to the embrace of his onrushing teammates.”
With their fifth win of the season, Punjab moved to fifth in the 10-team table, one below Chennai. Holders the Gujarat Titans top the standings. Devon Conway’s 92 off 52 balls proved to be in vain after the left-handed New Zealand opener steered Chennai to 200-4, having elected to bat first.
Livingstone and the left-handed Curran, who became the most expensive player in the tournament’s history at $2.23-million, revived the chase after Punjab fell to 94-3.
They put on 57 off 33 balls before Livingstone departed and Curran was bowled by Pathirana, called “Baby Malinga” for a slinging action similar to that of countryman Lasith Malinga.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh took Punjab closer in his 10-ball blitz before he fell to Tushar Deshpande, who took three wickets, but Raza held firm. Punjab captain Shikhar Dhawan (28) and opening partner Prabhsimran Singh (42) got the chase going in a quickfire 50-run stand but the team wobbled once the two departed.
Earlier, Conway laid the foundations of Chennai’s total in an 86-run opening stand with Ruturaj Gaikwad.
He reached his fifty — his fifth in the last six innings — in 30 balls with a boundary off Raza as he put up another attacking stand with Shivam Dube, who hit 28.
But it was captain MS Dhoni’s sixes off the final two balls bowled by Curran that brought the house down at the Chepauk stadium, as the old warhorse dispatched the ball over backward point and then a pull over deep mid-wicket. Punjab Kings, meanwhile, head back to Mohali to host Mumbai Indians tomorrow.
Online Reporter