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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE may not have achieved the International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup campaign they were hoping for as they finished last in their Super 12 group but Sikandar Raza had a tournament to remember.
Raza has been in the form of his life. The last few months Raza has made it difficult for one to talk about cricket and not include his name, the Zimbabwean has had the world talking.
Building up to the World Cup, in August the all-rounder became the first ever Zimbabwean to win the prestigious ICC Player of the Month Award. The red-hot Zimbabwean broke the record for the most runs scored in a single venue in a calendar year.
Raza scored 753 runs at Harare Sports Club, 540 in nine One-Day Internationals (including three centuries), and 213 in six T20Is. The 36-year-old was in magnificent form with the bat against Bangladesh with back-to-back hundreds to power Zimbabwe to an ODI series victory over Bangladesh at the beginning of August. Raza had unbeaten scores of 135 and 117 which came during two superb run-chases against the Tigers.
The previous record for one ground in a calendar year was 738 by Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas, in Lahore in 1982; his total was made up of 401 in three Tests, with 215 against India and 134 against Sri Lanka, plus 337 in three ODIs, in each of which he scored a century.
In the soon to be completed T20 World Cup in Australia, the star has been no short of breaking records as well. After helping Zimbabwe book their place in the Super 12 after a win against Scotland, Raza broke Virat Kohli’s record of most T20 player of the match awards in a year with seven.
A record which had been held by Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli since 2016 now belongs to Raza.
Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav equaled Kohli’s record in their match against Zimbabwe to have six awards as well.
The Zimbabwean boasts the fifth most runs scored in the World Cup with 219 runs and the fifth highest individual score of 82 runs. Raza has 10 scalps under his name as well.
With 219 runs and 10 wickets in this World Cup, Raza became, after Australian great Shane Watson, the second player to ever score over 200 runs and take over 10 wickets at a World Cup.
Having been breaking records, Raza has also made or created one. With Zimbabwe bowing out of the tournament, Raza became the first ever cricketer in history to score 500 runs and take 25 wickets in T20 cricket in a calendar year.
The all-rounder however fell short of making it two player of the month awards after being edged by Kohli for the October accolade. The other nominee was South Africa’s David Miller.
“I want to pay tribute to the other nominees who performed so well during the month and also to my teammates, who continue to support me to perform to the best of my ability,” said Kohli after winning the award.
Posted Raza Twitter before the team departed Australia:
“Leaving Australia with a heavy heart but thank you for so many great memories. Special mention to everyone who turned up at the grounds to support us, you represented people back home really well. Lastly, hope #Chevrons made you believe and smile. See you soon home.”
Without a doubt, Raza now deserves to be counted among the greats of Zimbabwe cricket. — @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter