Sikandar Raza

Sikandar Raza
Personal information
Full name Sikandar Raza Butt
Born (1986-04-24) 24 April 1986
Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan
Batting style Right hand bat
Bowling style Right arm medium
Role Batsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 85) 3 September 2013 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 116) 3 May 2013 v Bangladesh
Last ODI 10 july 2015 v India
ODI shirt no. 24
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2007–2009 Northerns
2009/ 2011-present Mashonaland Eagles
2010 Southern Rocks
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20I FC
Matches 4 29 5 39
Runs scored 327 663 77 2,296
Batting average 40.87 27.62 15.40 34.26
100s/50s -/4 3/1 0/0 3/13
Top score 82 141 31 200*
Balls bowled 492 282 18 1361
Wickets 5 5 2 17
Bowling average 60.60 63.00 7.50 50.00
5 wickets in innings - 0 0 0
10 wickets in match - 0 0 0
Best bowling 3/123 2/25 2/15 3/26
Catches/stumpings -/- 11/– 3/– 35/–
Source: ESPN Cricinfo, 2 March 2015

Sikandar Raza Butt (Urdu: سکندر رضا‎ ;born 24 April 1986 in Sialkot, Punjab) is a Pakistani-born Zimbabwean cricketer.

Born in Sialkot, Raza emigrated to Zimbabwe in 2001 along with his family. He soon became one of the best batsman in the domestic competition and caught the eye of the Zimbabwe selectors. The only problem was citizenship issues, which was granted in 2011.[1]

Domestic career

Sikander Raza was born in Sialkot to Punjabi Muslim parents.[2] He studied at the Pakistan Air Force Public School Lower Topa for three years and aspired to be a Pakistan Air Force pilot, but his dreams were cut short when he failed a vision test mandatory for selection.[3][4] In 2002, Raza moved with his family to Zimbabwe. He went to Scotland, where he pursued a bachelor's degree in software engineering at the Glasgow Caledonian University. It was here where Raza played semi-professional cricket, realising his potential.[3] After the revamping of Zimbabwe's domestic structure in 2009, he went on to play first-class cricket for the Mashonaland Eagles. He is a successful first-class cricketer, with a top score of 146.

He also played List A cricket originally for Northerns but later switched to play for Mashonaland Eagles. He made his List A debut in 2007.[5] He made his Twenty20 debut for the Southern Rocks in 2010 against the Desert Vipers.[6]

He turned out to be a Twenty20 specialist, and was the leading run-scorer in the 2010 Stanbic Bank T20 Competition.

In the Metbank Pro40 Championship Final in 2010, he scored a brilliant 44 for Southern Rocks as they cruised to the title against Mid West Rhinos. It was his first big performance that caught the selectorial eye.[7] In January 2011, he achieved his career best List-A score of 80 runs.

His performances earned him a place in the preliminary squad for Zimbabwe's 2011 Cricket World Cup campaign, but did not make it to the final squads. By then he had another fine performance, at the Masvingo Sports Club where his opening stand of 161 with Chamu Chibhabha, simply by bludgeoning the Matabeleland Tuskers bowlers, led the foundation for a massive Southern Rocks victory.[8]

This made the Zimbabwean selectors select him for the training squad for the Australia A and South Africa A tri-series.[9] The only matter, was he did not have citizenship status,[10] which was granted in September 2011.[11][12] By then he had another remarkable performance scoring 93 off just 48 balls for Southern Rocks against Matabeleland Tuskers in just the previous week's Wednesday in a Twenty20 match.

Opening the innings with the legendary West Indian Brian Lara and then getting great support from Elton Chigumbura, Raza took on the Matabeleland Tuskers's bowling attack.[13] He then represented a Zimbabwe XI side before the Bangladeshi tour to Zimbabwe started. Zimbabwe XI won the two matches.

International career

Raza made his ODI debut for Zimbabwe in May 2013 against Bangladesh and scored 3 runs batting at no. 3, thus becoming the 116th player to appear for Zimbabwe in the format.

He scored 82 off 112 balls with 6 fours and two sixes against India in his 4th ODI only. He scored 60 runs on his debut against Pakistan at Harare Sports Club, in which he had a 127-run partnership for the fourth wicket that put the hosts on course for the lead. Despite scoring a half-century on his Test debut, he was dropped from the team when Zimbabwean captain Brendan Taylor returned to the team. He has also represented Zimbabwe in Cricket World Cup 2015. His world cup performance was not that great. But he impressed many by his Bowling. Raza made 100* off 84 balls against Pakistan in May 2015 at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.

He made his T20I debut on 5 November 2013 against Bangladesh. He is also the youngest person to hit a fifty in T20I.[14] He achieved this feat when he was just above 17 years old.

He was named stand-in captain in second T20I during India tour of Zimbabwe 2015. Before this, he captained four times for Mash Eagles in domestic cricket in 2012. He led Zimbabwe in their first win of the tour by 10 runs.

During the second match against New Zealand in 2015 he scored his third century 100* on 95 deliveries

International centuries

One Day International centuries

Sikandar Raza's One Day International centuries
# Runs Match Against City/Country Venue Year Result
1 141 10  Afghanistan Zimbabwe Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Queens Sports Club 2014 Won
2 100* 29  Pakistan Pakistan Lahore, Pakistan Gaddafi Stadium 2015 Lost
3 100* 35  New Zealand Zimbabwe Harare, Zimbabwe Harare Sports Club 2015 Lost

International Awards

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

S No Opponent Venue Date Match Performance Result
1 Afghanistan Queen's Sports Club, Bulawayo 20 July 2014 5-0-25-2 ; 141 (133 balls, 11x4, 7x6)  Zimbabwe won by 8 wickets.[15]
2 Ireland Queen's Sports Club, Bulawayo 9 October 2015 1 ct. ; 60* (72 balls, 4x4)  Zimbabwe won by 2 wickets.[16]

Man of the series awards

# Series Season Match Performance Result
1 Afghanistan in Zimbabwe 2014 201 runs, 1 wicket. 3 ct. (4 Matches) Drawn.[17]
2 Ireland in Zimbabwe 2015/16 143 runs with 2 fifties, 3 wickets. (3 Matches)  Zimbabwe won the series 2-1.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Biography Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 October 2011
  2. ↑ Iyer, Aditya (19 July 2015). "Sikandar Raza Butt: The reluctant cricketer". Indian Express. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 Chidananda, Shreedutta (13 March 2015). "Sikander Raza: From Pakistan, via Scotland, to Zimbabwe". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  4. ↑ http://www.cricket.com.au/news/feature/sikandar-raza-pakistan-born-zimbabwe-international-fighter-pilot-cricket-returns/2015-06-03
  5. ↑ Scorecard Cricinfo. Retrieved 24 September 2011
  6. ↑ Scorecard Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 September 2011
  7. ↑ Southern Rocks cruise to Pro40 title Cricinfo. Retrieved 29 September 2011
  8. ↑ MetBank Pro40 Championship: Raza, Chibhabha bludgeon Tuskers Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2011
  9. ↑ Sikandar Raza closer to Zimbabwe debut Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 November 2011
  10. ↑ Can Raza Butt for Country? allAfrica.com. Retrieved 10 November 2011
  11. ↑ Raza wants to play for Zimbabwe ZimCricketForums. Retrieved 15 November 2011
  12. ↑ Selectors considering eligible Raza for T20 selection Zimpapers.co.zw. Retrieved 12 December 2011
  13. ↑ Star-studded Rocks bounce back Zimcricketnews.com. Retrieved 24 November 2011
  14. ↑ "Youngest to hit fifty in T20I". CillyPoint. CillyPoint. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  15. ↑ "Afghanistan tour of Zimbabwe, 2014". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  16. ↑ "Ireland tour of Zimbabwe, 2015". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "Afghanistan tour of Zimbabwe, 2014". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "Ireland in Zimbabwe ODI Series, 2015-16". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
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