Sikandar Reza, the chase master, almost saves Zimbabwe
His valiant effort with the bat fails to stop India from completing 3-0 sweep
Another chase of almost 300, another ODI hundred, this was from the big broad blade of none other than Sikandar Raza who has been in the form of his life at the age or 36, yes I repeat 36. Albeit this he could not take his team Zimbabwe home.
After failing in the first two ODIs against India when batting first, Raza got the opportunity to chase a target and he was once again a man on a mission. He came to bat at number five when his top three had once again fallen cheaply and by the time he got his eye in, he had lost three more partners and Zimbabwe were looking down the barrel at 169 for 7 at the end of 36 overs.
Able partner
It looked all over but Raza had not given up and he found an able partner in Brad Evans. And boy he almost took his team home till he got out in the 49th over to a brilliant catch by another centurion Shubman Gill for a terrific knock of 115 runs of just 95 balls.
He was toying with the Indian pacers and hitting boundaries at ease off them. When the spinners were bowling he picked singles and rotated the strike and wanted to take the game deep. In the 16 games which Zimbabwe have won, Raza has an average of 100 plus and he almost pulled off another chase against a top team India. In the past we have seen players like Micheal Bevan, Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni chasing down totals in 50 over games from a losing position and we have another champion player who at the age of 36 is making chasing ridiculously easy. Take a bow Sikandar Raza.