ALL-ROUNDER Sikandar Raza says it is a “massive honour” for Zimbabwe following his triple nomination for the International Cricket Council annual awards in recognition of his incredible exploits in 2022.
In a fitting end to a brilliant year, Raza yesterday became the first Zimbabwean cricketer to be nominated for the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.
The previous day, he had hit two more milestones for Zimbabwe after he received nominations for the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year.
Raza will battle it out for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year in a four-men shortlist that includes Pakistan national team captain Babar Azam, England’s Ben Stokes and New Zealand medium pacer Tim Southee.
Raza faces competition for the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year 2022 from India’s Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan and England’s T20 World Cup sensation Sam Curran.
The 36-year-old is also in the running for the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2022 Award where he faces stiff competition from Pakistan national team captain Babar Azam, Shai Hope of the West Indies and Australian spin bowler Adam Zampa.
“I just wanted to take this moment to say #Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God) and to thank you all for your prayers that I’ve received & am receiving.
“Massive honor for Zimbabwe, people of Zimbabwe, my family and myself to be named in ODI team of the year and shortlisted for ODI and T20 cricketer of the year,” said Raza.
It has been such a gratifying year for the all-rounder in the white ball game as evidenced by the extent of international recognition in the last few months.
Raza was the first Zimbabwean to win the ICC Player of the Month award in August before he got nominated for the second time in three months for the October gong.
Last week he was named in the 2022 Wisden’s Men’s T20I Team of the Year. He continued to get international recognition yesterday when he was included in the ESPNcricinfo’s Men’s ODI Team of the Year for 2022, selected by staff from one of the world’s leading cricket publications, ESPN CricInfo.
His consistent performances earned him a place in the Most Valuable Team of the Tournament at the recent ICC T20 Men’s World Cup 2022 in Australia.
“Sikandar Raza emerged as a crisis man for Zimbabwe in a year that saw the African country’s stocks rise in international cricket,” said the ICC in a statement.
“Raza was a force to reckon with in both white-ball formats, scoring more than 600 runs in both T20Is and ODIs. The star all-rounder enjoyed his most prolific year with both bat and ball since making his debut in 2013.”
Raza is the only player to feature in all three big categories for men’s cricket, apart from the Test awards since Zimbabwe did not play ay Test match this year.
He had a stellar year with the bat and also contributed significantly with the ball in T20Is. He scored 735 runs and collected 25 wickets in 24 matches, with a best of 4/8 in the final of the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament against the Netherlands in Bulawayo.
His top performances throughout the Qualifier earned him Man of the Tournament accolade.
He went on to play a starring role as Zimbabwe reached the Super 12 stage for the first time at the ICC T20 World Cup finals in Australia in October-November.
The veteran all-rounder delivered a brilliant show with both bat and ball and finished as Zimbabwe’s highest run-scorer in the tournament, with 219 runs to his name at a strike rate of 147.97.
He also picked up 10 wickets while operating at a mean economy rate of 6.50. His three-wicket salvo helped set up the shock win over Pakistan in their first group match.
Raza won three Man of the Match awards in the eight games that he played during the competition.
He also provided the best entertainment with the bat at the tournament as he finished with the highest number of sixes. He sat at the top of the table with 11 sixes and was followed by Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis and England’s semi-final hero Alex Hales with 10 apiece.
Overall, Raza has been one of the stars for Zimbabwe in 2022. He played 24 matches in the shortest format this year, scoring 735 runs at an average of 35.00 and a strike-rate of over 150.
He claimed 25 wickets during this period with a best of 4/8 in the final of the Qualifier tournament against the Netherlands in Bulawayo.
He faces strong competition from India’s Yadav for the ICC Men’s T20I Crickete of the Year gong. Yadav had a sensational 2022 in the shortest format of the game, becoming just the second batter to score more than 1 000 runs in a year in the format. He ended the year as the highest run-getter, scoring 1 164 runs at a ridiculous strike-rate of 187.43.
His tally of 68 sixes in the calendar year in T20Is is the highest anyone has recorded in the format in a year by a fair distance. With two hundreds and nine half-centuries in the year, Yadav was one of the standout men’s T20I batter.
Then there is England’s Curran, who beat Raza to the Player of the Tournament Award at the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. Curran’s bowling stocks in T20s rose in the year with his death bowling, in particular, earning plaudits.
Curran’s exploits, including a three-wicket haul in the final, proved to be crucial in England winning their second T20 World Cup title.
Pakistan’s star wicketkeeper/batter Rizwan is also in with a strong shout after amassing 996 runs, nine catches and three stumpings in 25 matches.
Only Yadav made more runs in the year in men’s T20Is.
Raza will also be hoping for a happy ending in the ODI awards after leading the resurgence of Zimbabwe on the international scene with his polished all-round performances.
He aggregated 645 runs at an average of 49.61 and strike rate of 87.16, making three centuries and two fifties. All of his runs came against top sides that have been brilliant in the white-ball game in 2022.
The 36-year-old scored three centuries, all of which came while chasing, with two resulting in victories and another almost taking Zimbabwe across the line against India.
With the ball in hand, Raza was ever-reliable, scalping eight wickets while giving away just more than five an over.
The ICC Awards 2022 will comprise a total of 13 categories, with awards honouring individuals who shone in specific formats, and also across multiple formats in the overall categories – the coveted Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year, and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year.
Shortlists for these categories have been determined by a specialist panel of cricket writers and broadcasters, who identified the star performers based on statistics and overall achievements in international cricket through the calendar year.
Voting in the ICC Awards 2022 will commence in early January 2023, where a wider selection of global media representatives, the ICC Voting Academy, will submit their selections alongside global cricket fans, who will once again be encouraged to vote at icc-cricket.com for their winners.
Results of the ICC Voting Academy selections and the fans’ vote will be combined to determine the winner in each of these nine categories.
Winners of the ICC Awards 2022 will be announced later in January 2023. – The Herald
