All-rounder Sikandar Raza is undoubtedly one of the great talents ever produced in Zimbabwe. Since his debut in 2013, Raza has played 17 Tests, 142 ODIs, and 91 T20Is and gave many memorable performances. Not just in international cricket, Raza has also widely contributed in domestic leagues like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL). Talking about his personal life, the 38-year-old all-rounder originally hails from Sialkot, Pakistan, and was recently asked on social media about his thoughts on playing for the country where he was born.

On X (formerly Twitter), a fan asked Raza, “Have you ever thought about playing for Pakistan? You could help resolve the middle-order batting woes.”

In reply, Raza maintained his loyalty towards Zimbabwe Cricket and stated that he will try to “repay the faith”, which was shown to him by the board. 

“I will only and ever represent Zimbabwe. (Zimbabwe) 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,” stated Raza. 

I am a born Pakistani and a product of Zimbabwe Cricket

I will only and ever represent Zimbabwe 🇿🇼

🇿🇼 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 https://t.co/Jod5vEXmuM

— Sikandar Raza (@SRazaB24) August 3, 2024

In an another post, a fan asked Raza to name his favourite bowler and batter. Surprisingly, Raza named a few players, which included India pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Pakistan star Shaheen Afridi, and former West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine. 

Bowlers:

Narine , Bumrah and Shaheen

Batsmen:

Abdullah Shafiq, Craig Ervine and Rohit https://t.co/A3mJyhsXSv

— Sikandar Raza (@SRazaB24) August 3, 2024

In a recently-concluded five-match T20I series against India, Raza was appointed as Zimbabwe skipper. Despite taking 1-0 lead, Zimbabwe ended up losing the series 4-1. 

Talking about overall stats, Raza has scored 1187 runs and scalped 34 wickets in 17 Test matches. In ODIs, he has scored 4154 runs while in T20Is, he has registered 2037 runs in 91 games. 

Apart from this, Raza has played nine IPL matches for Punjab Kings, where he scored 182 runs and also scalped three wickets.