Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ALL-ROUNDER Sikandar Raza, who was omitted from Zimbabwe’s tours to Bangladesh as well as Singapore is said to have refused to play under retiring skipper Hamilton Masakadza, leading to the player being dropped from the squad for the two tours.
Raza was a notable absentee from the Chevrons squad for the two tours, with Zimbabwe Cricket announcing that he had been omitted over pending disciplinary issues raised by the captain. It has since been established that Raza approached a member of the Chevrons technical staff as the team was preparing for the trip to Bangladesh and told them that he was not willing to play for as long as Masakadza was captain, which left selectors with no choice but to leave the player out of the two tours. A trustworthy source indicated that Raza has ambitions of being captain and was frustrated that ZC continued to back Masakadza.
“Raza approached one of the coaches and said he was not going to play as long as Hamilton Masakadza was captain because he had lost confidence in him, the selectors thus had no choice but to leave Raza out of the team,’’ said our source.
Masakadza will lead the Chevrons in the triangular Twent20 series against Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which starts on Friday in what will be his last involvement in cricket as a player. Sean Williams has been appointed captain of a fairly young Zimbabwean team that is heading off to Singapore from Bangladesh. In Singapore, Zimbabwe are playing in tri-series with Nepal and the host nation.
@Mdawini_29