Raza becomes first to score 500-plus runs, take 25 wickets in T20Is

MELBOURNE: Star Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza became the first-ever player in the history of T20I cricket to score 500-plus runs and take 25 wickets.

The all-rounder accomplished this landmark against India in his side's final Super 12 clash of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

In the match, Raza scored 34 off 24 balls with the bat and took 1/18 in three overs as a bowler. But his contributions were not enough to secure a win for Zimbabwe. This year, Raza has scored 735 runs in 24 matches in 23 innings at an average of 35.00.

Five half-centuries have come out of his bat, with the best individual score of 87. He has scored these runs at a strike rate of 150.92. Raza has also taken 25 wickets at an average of 17.68 and an economy rate of 6.13.

He is currently ranked as the sixth-best all-rounder in the ICC T20I rankings. Coming to India's match against Zimbabwe, Men in Blue posted 186/5 in their 20 overs after opting to bat first.

KL Rahul (51) and Virat Kohli (26) put a 60 run stand for the second wicket, but Sean Williams (2/9) squeezed some momentum out of their innings. However, Suryakumar Yadav (61*) made sure things finished well for Men in Blue.

Sean Williams (2/9) was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe. Raza, Muzarbani and Ngarava took a wicket each. Chasing 187, Zimbabwe never really looked like a threat.

Except for a 60-run stand for the sixth wicket between Raza (34) and Ryan Burl (35), Indian bowlers had all the control. Zimbabwe was bundled out for 115 runs in 17.2 overs and lost the match by 71 runs. Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3/22) was the pick of the bowlers for India.

Pacers Mohammad Shami and Hardik Pandya got two wickets each. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel got one wicket each. Suryakumar Yadav was adjudged as 'Man of the Match' for his fine half-century.

Brief Scores: India 186/5: (Suryakumar Yadav 61*, KL Rahul 51, Sean Williams 2/9) vs Zimbabwe 115 (Ryan Burl 35, Sikandar Raza 34; Ravichandran Ashwin 3-22).