By Agencies
Rawalpindi: Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza on Thursday became the second bowler from his country to take hundred wickets in men’s T20Is.
Raza amassed the milestone during Zimbabwe’s T20I tri-series match against Sri Lanka, underway here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, when he cleaned up Kamindu Mendis (nine) in his third over.
The right-arm spinner, as a result, became only the second Zimbabwe bowler to complete a century of wickets in the shortest format.
His teammate Richard Ngarava was the first to achieve the feat and is their leading wicket-taker with 106 scalps.
Most wickets for Zimbabwe in men’s T20Is
- Richard Ngarava – 106 wickets in 89* matches
- Sikandar Raza – 100 wickets in 125* matches
- Blessing Muzarabani – 93 wickets in 83 matches
- Luke Jongwe – 66 wickets in 65 matches
- Tendai Chatara – 65 wickets in 60 matches
Furthermore, Raza also became only the third player in the history of men’s T20Is to take 100 wickets besides scoring a thousand runs, joining the likes of Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi.
Shakib leads the elusive list with 2551 runs and 149 wickets, followed by Nabi with 2417 runs and 104 scalps, while Raza has 2823 runs to his name besides 100 dismissals.
Notably, Raza’s landmark wicket helped Zimbabwe clinch a resounding 65-run victory as they booked Sri Lanka for a modest 95-run total in 20 overs while defending the 163-run target.
Put into bat first, Zimbabwe notched up a decent total of 162/8, courtesy of Brian Bennett’s anchoring 49-run knock, followed by Sikandar Raza’s blistering 47 off just 32 balls.