Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma feels that the franchises would contest fiercely to sign Sikandar Raza in the upcoming mini-auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Sharma thinks that the veteran Zimbabwe allrounder will be in huge demand.
“Sikandar Raza is a great prospect. Not just RCB, but the other teams would also want to go after him. He has a lot of variations up his sleeve when it comes to his bowling. He has won Zimbabwe a lot of matches single-handedly and is a very good package. I am sure all the franchises have reserved a large amount for him,” Raza said in a conversation with India News.
Raza has been a crucial part of the Zimbabwe setup bringing a lot of experience to the plate. At 36, he will be one of the oldest players to go under the hammer during the auction but Sharma believes that it won’t stop teams from bidding on him.
Raza has been in excellent form throughout 2022 having scored three consecutive centuries in ODI run chases against Bangladesh and India in August this year. He became the first male player to achieve this feat within a month.
He also had an impressive T20I World Cup in Australia as well, hitting 219 runs in eight matches and finishing as the sixth-highest run-scorer of the tournament.
In addition to that, he also managed to pick up 10 wickets with his brilliant spell of 3-25 against Pakistan helping Zimbabwe script a stunning one-run victory in the group Super-12 stage of the showpiece.
Raza has set his base price at INR 50 lakh for the auction, hoping to land himself an IPL contract.
Sharma also pointed out that RCB have limited funds in their purse this year, which could see a different approach in their strategy.
RCB are entering the auction with a purse of Rs 8.75 crore which is the lowest among the 10 teams. It will thus be interesting to see their strategy calling for smart and judicious spending.
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