Sikandar Raza set a new record in men’s T20Is in Zimbabwe’s loss to Sri Lanka in Colombo yesterday (January 14), hitting a fifth consecutive half-century.

The Zimbabwe captain reached the milestone off 37 balls, eventually falling for 62 off 42. He was dismissed by Dushmantha Chameera in the penultimate over of Zimbabwe’s innings, having hit a six off Chameera the ball before. Despite his efforts, which included taking three wickets in Sri Lanka’s chase, Raza finished on the losing side after the hosts claimed a dramatic final-ball victory.

His innings was the fifth time Raza passed fifty with the bat in consecutive matches. Having found form in the Africa Region Qualifier for this year’s T20 World Cup in November, Raza racked up scores of 58, 65, 82 and 65 in Zimbabwe’s final four matches of that tournament, and would have set the record in his previous innings had he not been out two runs short of a half century in the match preceding his first fifty.

Raza takes over as the sole record-holder from a group of players who have hit four consecutive half centuries in men’s T20Is. Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Craig Williams, Rayyan Pathan, Gustav Mckeon and Reeza Hendricks all held the record previously.

Even more extraordinarily, Raza has also taken at least two wickets in each of the five matches in which he scored his consecutive fifties. His best figures in those matches came against Rwanda in Windhoek where he took three wickets and conceded just three runs. In all T20Is, New Zealand Women’s Sophie Devine holds the record with six consecutive fifty-plus scores.

Zimbabwe’s next T20I match will be played tomorrow against Sri Lanka, the second of the three-match series.

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