Sikandar Raza is widely regarded as one of the best talents in Zimbabwe cricket today. Since his debut in 2013, the all-rounder has played 17 Tests, 142 ODIs, and 91 T20Is and produced many remarkable performances.
Raza, 38, has also showcased his skills in various T20 leagues like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL), Caribbean Premier Legaue (CPL) among others.
Born in Sialkot, Sikandar Raza was recently asked on social media if he would ever consider playing for Pakistan as his presence would solve the side’s middle order issues.
During a Q&A session, a fan enquired, "Have you ever thought about playing for Pakistan? You could help resolve the middle-order batting woes."
In reply, Raza expressed his loyalty towards Zimbabwe, citing that he was only born in Pakistan but has always been a product of Zimbabwe cricket.
“I am a born Pakistani and a product of Zimbabwe Cricket. I will only and ever represent Zimbabwe. They spent time and money on me, and I am only trying to repay their faith, and whatever I achieve will never even get close to repaying it. Zim is mine and am theirs fully,” he wrote in response.
During the recently held five-match T20I series against India, Sikandar Raza led the Zimbabwe team. While they defeated India in the first T20I, the world champions bounced back to win the remaining games and clinched the series 4-1.
Talking about Raza’s stats, he has scored 1187 runs and claimed 34 wickets in Test cricket. In ODIs, he has amassed 4154 runs and picked up 88 wickets while he has 2037 runs and 66 wickets to his name in the shortest format of the game.
