T20
World Cup: Sikandar Raza's journey from Pakistan to Zimbabwe, via Scotland
Sikandar Raza wants to
play down the fact he has been one of the breakout players at this Men's T20
World Cup.
Few, though, would deny the spin-bowling
all-rounder has been the best performer as Zimbabwe reached the Super 12s stage
in Australia.
A shock win over Pakistan gave Zimbabwe hope
of reaching the semi-finals. That hope was all but extinguished in
Wednesday's defeat by the Netherlands, although
Raza again shone, top scoring with a 24-ball 40.
He had been the star performer with the ball
against Pakistan, the country of his birth, taking three wickets as his unique
story came full circle.
"I was sent video of my cousin crying and
her brother laughing because he was supporting me and she was supporting
Pakistan," he tells BBC Sport.
The 36-year-old was born in Punjab, Pakistan,
but has a far more complex cricketing and national identity.
In Pakistan, Raza trained to be in the air
force only for that career path to be blocked by a failed eyesight test.
Instead, Raza travelled to Glasgow in the
mid-2000s to study software engineering at university and laughs at the
suggestion he's the only player at the World Cup to know coding.
"Maybe in C++ but not in Java," he
says, before the conversation moves on to more comfortable, less
brain-twisting, ground.
"I graduated but I don't think I had a
future."
It was in Scotland where Raza grew as a
cricketer and, more importantly to him, as a person.
"Some of the common manners that
sometimes I lacked, I learned that in Scotland," he says.
"I was going with college mates to a fish
and chip shop and opened the door and walked in.
"A friend of mine, she said 'no, you hold
the door'."
Having played cricket for fun in Pakistan, his
time in Glasgow gave Raza his first real experience of club cricket - an
international career at this stage as distant as his family who had now
emigrated to Zimbabwe for work.
He was a fast bowler and middle-order batter
when he joined Weirs Cricket Club in southern Glasgow, after being put in touch
with a course-mate's relative who played at the club.
Over the coming seasons, while completing his
studies, he played at various clubs - Weirs, Prestwick and Ayr - eventually
being paid as a club professional.
It exposed him to many of Scotland's cricket
grounds and, of course, the weather.
"In the first couple of years we used to
travel to Dundee and Aberdeen," he says.
"Of course you play almost every game in
drizzly conditions but, because we were so young, happy and excited, we were
just happy to get a game."
One club, Stoneywood Dyce - where the security
fences of Aberdeen's airport line the boundary edge - sticks in the memory, in
particular.
"It was always windy, always cold and you
always had planes taking off and landing," he says. "But we were just
excited to play."
Away from this World Cup, Scottish cricket has
been dealing with serious allegations of racism,
following an independent review which found the governance and leadership of
the sport to be institutionally racist.
It is a topic Raza is happy to chat about
during our meeting at Zimbabwe's team hotel in Brisbane.
"I'm glad you asked me," Raza says,
sitting up in his chair.
"I was so well looked after, not just as
an individual, but as a human being."
Raza recalls, name checking the mother of
team-mate Craig Greenwood, how halal teas were made for him and other Muslim
team-mates.
"During fasting time the club was very
respectful," Raza says.
"There would be no shouting 'why are you
not chasing the ball faster?'. During prayer time they would be quiet in the
changing room."
That's not to say Raza is suggesting there is
no issue.
"I think it was Michael Holding's words.
If you cannot educate yourself you cannot eradicate the problem," Raza
says.
"Instead of banishing them, make sure
people are getting educated. Without educating things on these issues, the
problem will exist.
"We must come to a point where no-one has
issues with anyone."
Raza cannot speak more highly of Scotland and
the people he met there.
"We are practically family," he
says. "Scotland gave me everything I needed at that phase of life."
He admits he is a cricketer of the Scottish
club system but his first-class debut came back in Zimbabwe, where he became a
regular in their domestic competition.
He made his international debut in 2013 and,
in a stroke of fate, his Test debut came against Pakistan later the same year.
But it has been in the last year Raza's game
has hit new heights, hitting three one-day international centuries in August
and being named Player of the Tournament in the qualifiers for the ongoing
World Cup in July.
He began the first stage of the World Cup with
82 from 48 balls in a win against Ireland and has taken nine wickets.
He is not the first cricketer to play against
the country of his birth, and will almost certainly not be the last.
He is, however, clear on his identity, despite
those mixed reactions back in Pakistan.
"I still am a proud Pakistani," he
says. "The beauty about the two countries is they have never taken my
identity away from me.
"Pakistan respects that I am a Zimbabwe
product. They spent money and time on me to build me.
"Zimbabwe people respect that I was born
in Pakistan and I am of that origin.
"I am still a very proud Pakistani and I
am very proud Zimbabwe cricketer."
He's Sikandar Raza - the man born in Pakistan,
made in Scotland and now flying the flag for Zimbabwe.
