Raza leaves for Canadian league

Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter 

THERE is no rest for Chevrons all-rounder, Sikandar Raza as he has left the country to take part in yet another international cricket competition.

The Chevrons stalwart left Zimbabwe for Canada where he will join his 2023 GT20 Canada side, Toronto Nationals. His franchise side is sitting in third place of the already ongoing league with four points from four matches.

Raza was taking part in the inaugural Zim Cyber City Zim Afro T10 tournament where his Bulawayo Braves side failed to make it to the play-offs after they finished at the bottom of the five-team standings.

The 37-year-old confirmed via his social media accounts that he is headed to the North American nation for another international franchise league.

“Onto the next challenge, GT20 Canada. See you soon Toronto Nationals. Requesting for your prayers and very grateful for the prayers as always,” he posted.

At Toronto Nationals, Raza will join some big names in cricket such as Colin Munro, Faheem Ashraf, Shahid Afridi, and Gerhard Erasmus among others. The league is also home to players such as Max O’Dowd, Tim Southee, Harbhajan Singh, Chris Gayle, Shoaib Malik, James Neesham, Shakib Al Hassan, Mohammad Rizwan, and Rassie van der Dussen among others.

The 37-year-old star is no stranger to international franchise leagues having been part of the Lahore Qalandars side that successfully defended the Pakistan Super League (PSL) title to become only the second Zimbabwean to win it after fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani won it with the Andy Flower coached Multan Sultans in 2021.

He has also played in arguably the biggest franchise league in the world, the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he was part of the Punjab Kings becoming only the fourth Zimbabwean to be bought by an IPL side after Ray Price, Brendan Taylor, and Tatenda Taibu.

On top of that, Raza played for the Dubai Capitals in the International League T20 and the Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League. At the end of last year, Raza turned out for the Biratnagar Super Kings in the Nepal T20 League.

In the previous edition of the GT20 Canada league, the team that Raza will be playing for, the Toronto Nationals lost their eliminator match against Winnipeg Hawks by two runs (D/L Method) to crash out of the tournament.

The GT20 Canada league was founded in 2018, however, this is only the third edition after 2020, 2021, and 2022 events could not take place due to Covid-19 restrictions. – Follow on Twitter @brandon_malvin