Sikandar Raza was in Nottingham until Saturday evening with the Zimbabwe Test team in England but with the game ending a day before, the all-rounder was off to Pakistan to feature for the Lahore Qalandars in the PSL Final and ended up making the difference with a sensational finish.
It was a whirlwind 24 hours for Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza, who was batting rather well in sub-10 degrees in Nottingham to save a Test match for his country and a few moments later, found himself on a multi-flight trip to Pakistan to reach in time for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final in Lahore. Raza was batting on 60 at one moment and scoring the winning runs for Lahore Qalandars at another, while hitting 22 off just seven balls with the target being in excess of 200 against the Quetta Gladiators.
“I am here to do a job, and god forbid, if we happened to lose the game then at least in my heart I knew I was with my brothers,” Raza said after the nervy finish on Sunday at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
“I know the team truly wanted me here, given the efforts the owners and the captains went through over the last 24-36 hours to get me here. If I tell you, it’s unbelievable.
“Bowled 25 overs [in the Test] the day before yesterday, batted for 20 overs yesterday. Had dinner in Birmingham, breakfast in Dubai, drove to Abu Dhabi for lunch, took a flight and had dinner in Pakistan. I guess this is the life of a professional cricketer and I’m truly humbled and blessed to have that life,” Raza added.
Raza reached the venue just 10 minutes before the toss. The all-rounder took a key wicket of Rilee Rossouw but was plundered for 43 runs in his spell and hence, it wasn’t really clear why the Qalandars wanted him back so badly that they ended up making him a globetrotter where each of his meals were in different cities and countries.
Mohammad Naeem and Abdullah Shafiq scored quickfire 40s to take Qalandars’ innings forward after losing Fakhar Zaman early but none of them played long before Kusal Perera. The replacement player, Perera, utilised outstanding batting conditions to pummel the Quetta Gladiators before Raza hit a couple of fours and as many sixes to finish the game as the Qalandars won their third PSL title.
