Sikandar Raza

Sikandar Raza Butt (سکندر رضا; born 24 April 1986) is a Pakistani-born Zimbabwean international cricketer.

He is an all-rounder, who bats right-handed and bowls right arm off-spin.

Born in Sialkot, Raza emigrated to Zimbabwe in 2002 along with his family.

He soon became one of the best batsman in the domestic competition and caught the eyes of the Zimbabwean selectors.

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.

He made his first-class debut on 12 April 2007 for Northerns against Easterns during the 2007 Logan Cup.

He is a successful first-class cricketer, with a top score of 146.

Raza also played List A cricket originally for Northerns but later switched to play for Mashonaland Eagles.

He made his List A debut in 2007.

After the revamping of Zimbabwe's domestic structure in 2009, Raza went on to play first-class cricket for the Mashonaland Eagles.

He made his Twenty20 debut for the Southern Rocks in 2010 against the Desert Vipers.

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

In the Metbank Pro40 Championship Final in 2010, Raza 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.

The only problem was citizenship issues, which was granted in 2011.

Raza was born in Sialkot to a Punjabi speaking Kashmiri family.

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 that was mandatory for selection in the Pakistan airforce at that time.

In January 2011, he achieved his career best List-A score of 80 runs.

Raza's 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 15 man squad.

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.

This made the Zimbabwean selectors select Raza for the training squad for the Australia A and South Africa A tri-series.

The only matter, was he did not have citizenship status, which was granted to him in September 2011.

By then, he had another remarkable performance, scoring 93 off just 48 balls for Southern Rocks against Matabeleland Tuskers.

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.

He then represented a Zimbabwe XI side before the Bangladesh tour to Zimbabwe started.

Zimbabwe XI won the two matches.

He made his international debut for Zimbabwe in May 2013.

On 3 June 2018, Raza was selected to play for the Montreal Tigers in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament.

In October 2018, Raza was named in Tshwane Spartans' squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament.

Later the same month, he was named in the squad for the Chittagong Vikings team, following the draft for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League.

In July 2019, Raza was selected to play for the Amsterdam Knights in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament.

However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.

In July 2020, he was named in the Trinbago Knight Riders squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League.

In December 2020, Raza was selected to play for the Southern Rocks in the 2020–21 Logan Cup.

In December 2022, Raza was drafted by the Lahore Qalandars as their Gold Category round pick at the 2023 PSL draft.

In December 2022, Raza was bought by the Punjab Kings in the 2023 Indian Premier League for 50 Lakhs.

He made his IPL debut for Punjab Kings against Kolkata Knight Riders on 1 April 2023, scoring 16 off 13 balls and taking the figures of 1-25 from 3 overs.

On 15 April 2023, he claimed his maiden IPL half-century, scoring 57 runs of 41 balls helping his team to defeat Lucknow Super Giants by 2 wickets.