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Irfan Pathan and Punjab Kings (File Photo: Twitter)
Punjab Kingas recently came up with the list of their released and retained players for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2024 before the IPL 2024 retention day. They retained some of the star players, includinging the likes of skipper Shikhar Dhawan, wicketkeeper-batters Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma.
Meanwhile, the former Indian all-rounder and now commentator, Irfan Pathan came up with full praise for the star Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikandar Raza, as he was in action for the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League 2023.
"They will have to make this tough decision." - Irfan Pathan about Punjab Kings
Irfan Pathan also lauded all-round capabilities in the recently concluded international assignments for Zimbabwe.
“They have Sikandar Raza in the backups. I want to see him playing regularly. They will have to make this tough decision. It will be between either Liam Livingstone or Sikandar Raza because both have pretty similar skills,” said Irfan Pathan on Star Sports.
“Depending on the conditions and pitches, you might see Sam Curran going out and both of these guys, Sikandar Raza and Livingstone, playing. Then you might see one more Indian fast bowler playing there,” he added later.
Notably, Sikandar Raza was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, scoring 273 runs in 5 innings of the 6 matches, he played for Zimbabwe in the Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier 2023/24. Raza had a brilliant average of 54.60 in these 5 innings he batted, hitting 3 half-centuries with the bat, including the highest score of 82 runs to his name.
He was followed by Nikolaas Davin of Namibia, who scored 241 runs with an average of 40.16, including 2 half-centuries in 6 innings of the 6 matches, he played for Zimbabwe.
Sikander Raza played 7 matches for Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League 2023 and batted in all 7 innings, scoring 139 runs with an average of 27.80, hitting a half-century with the bat.