Zimbabwe Cricket star Sikandar Raza will feature for the Chennai Braves in the upcoming edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 League to be played in the United Arab Emirates later this year.
This year’s edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 will be the sixth season of the innovative tournament where matches will have a 10-over-a-side format with a time duration of 90 minutes.
The 2022 Abu Dhabi T10 League is set to commence later this year. Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium will be the host to the tournament, from November 23 to December 4.
Raza, who has been one of the world’s leading run scorers in the game’s shorter formats this year attracted a bid from the Chennai Braves during the draft for the upcoming competition which took place on Monday evening.
Deal Announcement – @SRazaB24 will play for Chennai Braves in the @T10League ! 🤩✈️#Cricket #UAE #AbuDhabi #ChennaiBraves #Zimbabwe #Allrounder #SRB24 #Deals #OneTeamOneDream #StemSports pic.twitter.com/QyTiWWUCpK
— Stem Sports (@Stemsports1) September 27, 2022
Sri Lankan star Dasun Shanaka is the icon player for the team whose roster also includes other international cricket stars such as Carlos Brathwaite, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Ben Duckett just to mention a few.
Raza has been enjoying a remarkable season in international cricket with some exceptional all-round performances for the resurgent Zimbabwe national team.
A fortnight ago Raza created history by becoming the first Zimbabwe player to win the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award.
The Pakistan-born batting allrounder beat New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner and England star Ben Stokes to claim the monthly award for August, with the 36-year-old scoring three ODI centuries during the month alone.
Congratulations to our star all-rounder Sikandar Raza who has been crowned the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for August 2022, becoming the first Zimbabwean to win the prestigious accolade. Well deserved!#SikandarRaza | #ICCPlayerOfTheMonth pic.twitter.com/UfsMWk7usb
— Zimbabwe Cricket (@ZimCricketv) September 12, 2022
This meant Raza joins an illustrious group of players to have won the ICC monthly gong and becomes the first from Zimbabwe to do so.
The 36-year-old hard-hitting allrounder will be hoping to continue his good run of form by making an impact with the Chennai Braves who will be making their second appearance in the eight-team competition after making their debut last year.
Raza is also not new to the Abu Dhabi T10 League after making his debut in 2019 with the Northern Warriors.
Deccan Gladiators are the defending champions of the competition which also includes, the Bangla Tigers, Delhi Bulls, Northern Warriors, Team Abu Dhabi and the new entrants Morrisville SAMP Army and New York Strikers.
All eight teams will play each other once in the preliminary round and the top four teams will qualify for the play offs.
Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman, T10 Sports Management said after the player draft: “It’s been very nice to see the growth of the league over the years. I’m delighted about how the Abu Dhabi T10 Players Draft panned out.
“The success of any event depends on partnerships and the teams working on the event and the Abu Dhabi Cricket & Sports Hub is unbeatable. I am sure that this season will be even more exhilarating than the previous years. The squads are all very competitive and I would like to welcome the cricketers here once more. May the best team win.”
Abu Dhabi T10 League 2022 – Complete Squads of all teams after player drafts 1.
Delhi Bulls: Dwayne Bravo (icon, c), Tim David, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rilee Rossouw, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Will Jacks,Najibullah Zadran, Dominic Drakes, Richard Gleeson, Keemo Paul, Mitchell Stanley, Shiraz Ahmed, Karnal Zahid, Aayan Afzal Khan, Imad Wasim, Jordan Cox
Team Abu Dhabi: Chris Lynn (icon), Fabian Allen, Phil Salt, Adil Rashid, Naveen-ul-Haq, Tymal Mills, Jamie Overton, James Vince, Brandon King, Amad Butt, Darwish Rasooli, Alishan Sharafu, Abid Ali, Ethan D’Souza, Mustafizur Rahman, Peter Hatzoglou
Northern Warriors: Wanindu Hasaranga (icon), Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell (c), Adam Lyth, Reece Topley, Kennar Lewis, Wayne Parnell, Adam Hose, Chris Green, Rayad Emrit, Gus Atkinson, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Usman, Hamdan Tahir, Dushmantha Chameera, Mohammad Irfan
Bangla Tigers: Shakib Al Hasan (icon, c), Evin Lewis, Colin Munro, Hazratullah Zazai, Joe Clarke, Benny Howell, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Amir, Matheesha Pathirana, Nurul Hasan, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Rohan Mustafa, Chirag Suri, Umair Ali, Dan Christian, Jake Ball
Deccan Gladiators: Nicholas Pooran (icon), Andre Russell, David Wiese, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Luke Wood, Josh Little, Odean Smith, Will Smeed, Zahir Khan, Curtis Campher, Zahoor Khan, Adeel Malik, Sultan Ahmed, Jason Roy, Taskin Ahmed
The Chennai Braves: Dasun Shanaka (icon), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Carlos Brathwaite, Obed McCoy, Maheesh Theekshana, Olly Stone, Ben Duckett, Sam Cook, Sikandar Raza, Ross Whiteley, Kobe Herft, Karthik Meiyappan, Vriitya Aravind, Sabir Rao, Laurie Evans, James Fuller
Morrisville SAMP Army: David Miller (icon), Anrich Nortje, Shimron Hetmyer, Moeen Ali, Dwaine Pretorius, Johnson Charles, Chamika Karunaratne, George Garton, Andries Gous, Jacobus Pienaar, Ibrahim Zadran, Ahmed Raza, Kashif Daud, Basil Hameed, Sheldon Cottrell, Karim Janat
New York Strikers: Kieron Pollard (icon, c), Eoin Morgan, Azam Khan, Paul Stirling, Romario Shepherd, Andre Fletcher, Wahab Riaz, Jordan Thompson, Kesrick Williams, Izharulhaq Naveed, Tom Hartley, Muhammad Waseem, Nav Pabreja, Muhammad Farooq, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul