We are all pretty heart-broken at the moment, says Sikandar Raza
Sikandar Raza has claimed that he and his teammates are thoroughly heart-broken after the ICC decided to ban the Zimbabwe cricket team from international tournaments over 'government interference'. The international body has to get its house in order by the next ICC meeting in October.
The Zimbabwe cricket team members were left in a limbo as they exchanged messages in the minutes following the ICC's decision to suspend Zimbabwe with immediate effect over 'government interference'. Veteran Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza revealed that his teammates were feeling the same way they felt after the World Cup Qualifier last year, after a loss to UAE cost them a place at the 2019 World Cup.
"We are all pretty heart-broken at the moment. We are still in shock to be honest, seeing how our international career can come to an end like that. Not just for one player, but for the whole country. I am not coming to terms with it so easily, and I am sure my team-mates feel the same way. Where do we go from here? Is there a way out?
"I don't know what is the way out. We have been told that we have been suspended but not told for how long. two-year could basically bring an end to a lot of careers. I don't know the conditions but to totally suspend us from playing cricket, while you allow whoever is responsible to get our house in order, you basically stop cricket in Zimbabwe. I don't know how one can do that but it has happened to us now," Raza told ESPNCricinfo.
Raza, who is a veteran of 97 ODIs with the national team, has quickly built himself into a solid batting allrounder in international cricket and is associated with a host of T20 leagues around the world. The 33-year old added that he would have liked if the ICC allowed them to keep playing while giving them time to sort out their domestic affairs. Zimbabwe are scheduled to play a T20 tri-series in September in Bangladesh, against the hosts and Afghanistan, in the lead-up to the Men's World T20 Qualifier in October in the UAE.
"If we miss the World T20 qualifiers, we will miss the T20 tri-series in Bangladesh [in September]. What if the house is not in order? Is the ICC going to recognise the interim committee or the old committee? What is happening? I don't know where we go as international cricketers. Is it club cricket or no cricket for us? Do we just burn our kits and apply for jobs? I don't know what we have to do right now.
"I genuinely thought that it would have been ideal if one member of the ICC had come and overseen the election process, for the reasons SRC dismissed the board, while we continued to play cricket. I thought that would have been a very good quick fix," Raza added.
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