What happened to Sikandar Raza? Zimbabwe batsman's health under the scanner

Zimbabwe are currently playing host to the Babar Azam-led Pakistan team who are presently touring the African nation to play a 3-match T20I series followed by two-match Test series. The Men in Green have already made a winning start on the tour by beating the hosts in the 1st T20I match on Wednesday.

Ahead of the start of the Zimbabwe vs Pakistan 2021 series, the Zimbabwe team was hit with injury crises when their star player Sikandar Raza was ruled out of the series. Going by the latest report, the cricketer is set to miss cricket action for an indefinite period of time.

What happened to Sikandar Raza? Status of Sikandar Raza injury

For those wondering as to what happened to Sikandar Raza and why is he is not playing the series, ESPN has reported that the cricketer had a bone marrow infection which was suspected to be cancerous at one stage. If you are still wondering about the status of Sikandar Raza injury, the report further states that following the surgery to remove the tumour earlier this month, Raza has been cleared of serious illness but the recovery period is expected to take few weeks. 

Speaking about the setback, Raza said that he first felt a lot of pain in his right arm during the Zimbabwe-Afghanistan series in Abu Dhabi last month and it was treated like it was muscular pain initially but the pain kept getting worse. He said that due to the pain he stayed up all night since he was unable to sleep despite having sleeping pills and that’s how he played the Test matches.

Sharing more information on the infection, the allrounder said that after coming home, the ultrasound showed that the muscles are all fine, but the MRI showed that he had a foreign or alien substance on his bone marrow. He added that the surgeon told him that this substance could make the shoulder bone so weak that he could fracture it by just throwing a ball.

While the cricketer was keen to wait for the Pakistan series, the surgeon suggested that he do a biopsy right away. He said that due to the deformity seen in my bicep bone, the doctors were suspecting cancer. The 34-year-old then underwent surgery in which pus and some red substance were removed from his bone and sent for further testing. The biopsy results came negative clearing the cricketer of any tumour or cancer. He also spoke about his future in cricket and how he understands that it will be some time before he can return on the field again.

Zimbabwe vs Pakistan 2021: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan live telecast

The Zimbabwe vs Pakistan live telecast will not be done in India, but the cricket fans in Zimbabwe can watch the match only on the official channel of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. Live scores and updates for the match should be available on the websites and social media handles of the Pakistan cricket board and Zimbabwe Cricket all over the world. 

Sikandar Raza stats

The cricketer has represented Zimbabwe in 17 Tests, 103 ODIs and 30 T20Is. He has scored 1187 runs in Tests, 2856 runs in ODIs and 520 runs in T20Is. Coming to his bowling stats, the off-spinner has picked up 34 Test wickets, 61 ODI wickets and 13 T20I wickets.