Richard Ngarava on the verge of Chevrons T20 history

AN old adage goes: “Life is true to form and records are made to be broken,” and this has proven to be a fact in the world of sport.

Many long-standing records have been shattered, with new heroes emerging every day on the global stage and the sporting circle in Zimbabwe has not been/or will not be spared.

There are new crops of heroes emerging daily and are looking set to scale greater heights, surpassing those they look up to.

Who would have envisaged that a 21-year-old, back in 2019, would today be standing on the verge of history inside a Zimbabwe Cricket shirt? In just five years, the Chevrons’ left-handed fast bowler, Richard Ngarava has emerged as a true international act.

It is in white-ball cricket that the now 26-year-old seamer has been a menace with ball in hand to batters all around the world; he has shown wizardry.

It is in T20Is where he has been even more lethal, being able to adapt to different conditions while racking up wickets.

Having made his T20i debut for Zimbabwe in 2019 against Singapore during the Singapore Twenty20 Tri-Series, Ngarava has shown no signs of slowing down in the format, he has since been scaling greater heights ever since.

In his debut match, Ngarava picked up two wickets for 48 runs in his four over-spell and that was just the beginning of many and now stands as the country’s second leading wicket-taker in the shortest version of the game.

In just five years of playing international cricket, Ngarava is three scalps shy of being Zimbabwe’s all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is and with his recent form, he is poised to achieve that feat sooner than later.

Ngarava, in 49 T20I innings for the Chevrons has managed to take 59 wickets, three shy of overtaking veteran fast bowler, Tendai Chatara.

Chatara, who is the leading wicket-taker in the format, has 62 wickets in 56 innings, in a career spanning from 2010.

He also boasts of the most maidens in T20Is for Zimbabwe with eight and also the seventh most in the world, behind the likes of Frank Nsubuga (15), Shem Ngoche (12), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (10), Ghulam Ahmadi (10), Jasprit Bumrah (10) and Henry Ssenyendo (eight).

The Chevrons star bowler has 12 wickets caught by a wicketkeeper in the format, which is the ninth-highest in the world.

Last year, Ngarava was one of the finest bowlers in the world as he finished with 26 wickets off just 15 innings at an average of 11,42 and an economy rate of 5,63.

In mid-December last year, his 26 scalps were the joint most in 2023 alongside Ireland’s Mark Adair.

With his unrivalled skill, Ngarava has not gone unnoticed and will soon make his Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) debut with Sylhet Strikers alongside Chevrons teammate Ryan Burl. Last year, he made his international franchise cricket debut in the Lankan Premier League (IPL) in the books of Galle Titans.

As a hot international act in 20-over cricket at the moment, the Chevrons’ star all-rounder will be hard to ignore in various international franchise leagues. – @brandon_malvin