Raza pays for Zim U19 boys to watch IPL

AFTER making history and fulfilling his dream last week, Chevrons star all-rounder, Sikandar Raza helped fulfil the fantasies of 19 more Zimbabweans after paying for the Under-19 boys’ team to watch an Indian Premier League (IPL) match.

Raza surprised the team who are on tour to the Asian country with tickets to watch the match between his team, Punjab Kings and five time IPL champions, Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Saturday.

The Prosper Utseya coached Under-19 side are on a 20-day tour of India as part of their preparations for the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup and they took to their social media to show appreciation to Raza, who turned 37 yesterday for the once in a lifetime opportunity he gave them.

“Zimbabwe Cricket U-19 coach Prosper Utseya had a surprise gift for the lads after today’s (Saturday) impressive win, an IPL fixture courtesy of King Sikandar Raza who paid tickets for the whole team.

Thank you Raza you made their dream come true,” they posted on their Twitter account.

“Thanks boys for coming and am sure some of you guys in good time will be here too in future. Best wishes for the tour,” Raza responded to the tweet.

The day turned out to be a special one for both Raza and the Under-19s as Punjab Kings won the match by 13 runs. However, the Zimbabwean stalwart missed out on the match as he was an unused substitute in a second consecutive match. The win was their fourth in seven matches in this year’s IPL.

For the Under-19s, it has been a good outing in India as they have been winning the matches that they have played against the different clubs from the Asian nation. On Sunday, the youngsters won their match against Sudaan Academy by a huge 110 runs.

Batting first, the Young Chevrons were bowled out for 365 in 49.1 overs after a brilliant Brendon Sunguro ton. He top scored with 113 runs while Ryan Kamwemba fell eight runs short of his century on 92 runs to guide Zimbabwe to a good first innings score. They went on to restrict the home side on 255/8 to take the victory after a brilliant all round performance.

In the previous match, Zimbabwe also registered another win after two brilliant batting displays from Ronak Patel and Carlton Takawira saw them chase down a mammoth target of 323 set by DY Patil Under-23 in 45.4 Overs. Patel finished unbeaten on 142 runs while Takawira made 80 runs off 40 balls to see the team through.

“Since my team was a bit below and we actually needed more runs on the board and our team was behind so I wanted to use my ability to hit the ball and it is one of my abilities and the reason why I was chosen in the team so I wanted to express myself, that was my game plan.

“For the past games I have been struggling to score some runs, so I just felt as if yesterday’ game was something that could energise my confidence so that I can express myself more,” said Takawira who was striking at 200.

The youngsters are set to return to Zimbabwe on April 29. — @brandon_malvin