Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
WHEN Sikandar Raza became the first Zimbabwean cricket player to be named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month yesterday, few people raised their eyebrows because it was expected, it was inevitable and it was written in the stars.
Raza has been in the form of his life lately.
He was the hero as the Chevrons dominated the T20 World Cup Qualifiers to book their spot to Australia. The all-rounder scored the most runs and picked up the joint most wickets during the tournament.
In August he helped Zimbabwe win their first white ball series since 2017 and also scored a valiant century against India and such efforts have not gone unnoticed.
The star all-rounder scored three centuries, two of those being back-to-back match winning knocks against Bangladesh and the other one was in the last ODI against India where the Chevrons fell 13 runs short of victory.
Raza was also part of the Zimbabwean team that won their first-ever ODI match against Australia in Australia.
In an interview with ICC, Raza said he is very happy to win the monthly award.
“I’m incredibly humbled and honoured to have won the player of the month award from the ICC, more humbling that I’m the first Zimbabwean to ever win such an award,” Raza told ICC.
“I would like to thank everybody who has been in the changeroom with me over the past three to four months, that goes out to the technical staff and to the players, without you guys this would not have been possible.
“Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the fans in Zimbabwe and overseas for all your prayers, for all your wishes, they were all received and I’m forever grateful,” said Raza.
The award has made the Zimbabwean star join an elite group of cricketers who have won the award this year. They include South Africa’s Keegan Petersen, Shreyas Iyer, Babar Azam, Keshav Maharaj, Angelo Mathews, Jonny Bairstow and Prabath Jayasuriya.
Without a doubt, Raza now deserves to be counted among the greats of Zimbabwe cricket. Unlike Andy Flower, Heath Streak, Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza who had the cricket world talking but never got the accolades to show for it, Sikandar Raza made history by becoming the first-ever Zimbabwean to be voted ICC Player of the Month after an impressive run in August.
The Chevrons star beat England test captain Ben Stokes and New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner.
Online Reporter