adminZIMBABWE yesterday suffered a huge seven wicket loss to Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association XI in their first warm-up in India before the start of ICC World Twenty20 set to start next week.
Zimbabwe were restricted to 112 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs and Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association easily overhauled the visitors’ total, scoring 113 for 3 to win the game with 36 balls remaining.
The Chevrons will play in the qualifying round in Group B with Afghanistan, Scotland and Hong Kong. zimbabwe’s next warm-up match is against Ireland tomorrow and a number of the Ireland players will face a familiar face in the form of Tawanda Mupariwa, who played professional at Strabane in 2015. Mupariwa was called into the Zimbabwe squad as one of three replacements because of injury and could be facing North West Warriors players Andy McBrine, Stuart Thompson and Craig Young when the teams meet in Dharamsala on Saturday morning.
After a week’s training camp in Mohali, the players are all itching to get back into action and the batsmen, in particular, have much to prove. They have failed to reach 150 in any of their last 12 T20 internationals, which included defeats to Papua New Guinea and United Arab Emirates on their recent tour to Queensland and Abu Dhabi.
Ireland’s first match in the World T20 is against Oman on Wednesday, followed by games against Bangladesh and Netherlands. Ireland will have to win at least two to make it to the Super 10 stage when the top eight Test nations join in. – Belfast Telegraph
Online Reporter