WATCH: I’ve not eaten pizza in 7 years – Sikandar Raza

Man of the moment Sikandar Raza has partly credited his current purple patch to his diet.

Speaking to Ekattor TV’s Saiful Islam Rupok, he said, “So I haven’t eaten white rice in six years. I don’t eat pizzas. I haven’t eaten pizza in six-seven years. I haven’t eaten ice cream. I’ve not eaten a dessert in six-seven years as well.”

Saiful then asked him if winning matches made it all worth it, “A hundred percent. But remember it is the sacrifices that you make. If you make a few sacrifices for the cricket, cricket always rewards you back brother.”

Raza is one of the fittest players in the Zimbabwe team.

Asked what the motivation was for the team, Raza said, “The motivation is always winning… I think Zimbabwe has seen a lot of downfall in the recent years. The motivation is to bring the country up, to improve on our rankings, to win as many games as we can, to have a winning culture to the changing room. Because when we seen the countries winning, to have that giggle, that celebration, we wanna do that as well..”

Raza, who was born in Pakistan, also thanked Zimbabwe for giving him the opportunity to play. He also had kind words for the T20 leagues, including those in Bangladesh, for lending to his progress as a player

On Lance Klusener, Raza said Zulu, as the the batting coach is known, had played a role in developing him when he performed the role for Zimbabwe until four years ago.

“I left you three years ago. This where you are now but this is where you should be. So Zulu has come back and gone hard at me in a constructive and positive way.”

Raza also spoke glowingly about the mutual respect between teams.

Raza also speaks about how he prepares for matches.

Watch the interview in full below: