Raza leaves Vitality Blast ahead of India tour

ZIMBABWE national T20I cricket skipper, Sikandar Raza, has left the Vitality Blast in England to prepare for the Chevrons’ home series against India early next month. The all-rounder was making his debut appearance in England’s franchise T20 league in the books of Northamptonshire Cricket Club.

The Chevrons are set to host India for a five-match T20I series starting on July 6 at Harare Sports Club. After the end of the series, Raza will return to Northamptonshire for their last two games of the campaign. “He (Raza) now jets off to face India for Zimbabwe, but will be back for our two final Blast games,” the Steelbacks posted. The Zimbabwe ace also confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that he is returning home for the series.
“Thanks for having me and appreciate all the prayers for the national duty. See you all soon in sha Allah. Home (Zimbabwe) time for the India series now,” posted Raza.

In his last match for Northamptonshire, Raza had a 14-ball cameo as they finished tied with Leicestershire on Friday. Coming in to bat at number five, the Chevrons star showed his class as he scored an unbeaten 36 runs off 14 balls, including one four and four sixes. He had an impressive strike rate of 257,14 to help his team finish their innings on 208/5 in their 20 overs. With ball in hand, Raza bowled two overs and went for 11 runs without taking a wicket.

The series against India will mark a new chapter for Zimbabwe as they will be under a new technical setup. South African Justin Sammons was appointed head coach last week, with former Zimbabwe international Dion Ebrahim as his assistant. They have been tasked with securing qualification for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The Chevrons missed out on qualifying for the ongoing T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States of America after a dismal showing in the regional qualifiers.

Zimbabwe will again play in the regional qualifiers for the 2026 edition after the ICC confirmed the 12 teams that have automatic qualification.
India and Sri Lanka qualified automatically as co-hosts, while Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, USA and the West Indies qualified by reaching the Super Eight of the ongoing edition.

New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland qualified automatically due to their T20I rankings. Both Zimbabwe and India are yet to name their final squads for the series. The visitors, India are rumoured to be coming to Zimbabwe under the stewardship of VVS Laxman as they are yet to appoint Rahul Dravid’s permanent replacement as coach. Dravid is set to step down as India’s head coach after their T20 World Cup campaign. – @brandon_malvin