Chronicle Editor
THE Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket team is in Nagpur for the next few weeks and will play 10 matches in all against the Vidarbha Under-19 and Under-23 teams.
The Zimbabweans landed in the country on Tuesday and all the matches are expected to be 50-over contests, the same format as the junior World Cup next year.
The tour is part of the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA)’s endeavour to lend a helping hand to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) in terms of player development and it’s learnt that many such teams of different levels from the African nation will be visiting Nagpur over the next year or so.
The Zimbabwe women’s team is already slated to travel here in the near future, while reciprocal tours are being planned where the Vidarbha team visits Harare to play some matches in the coming months.
VCA president Anand Jaiswal confirmed the news regarding the player development programme that his association and ZC have launched.
“We were in talks with Zimbabwe Cricket over the past three months. They have expressed a desire to come and play in India as part of their preparation plans for the next Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand.
“The VCA has taken the BCCI’s permission for the same and they are here to play 10 one dayers,” Jaiswal said.
Incidentally, it was only in mid-August that International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman and former VCA chief Shashank Manohar visited Harare to find ways to rebuild and revive the sport in Zimbabwe.
While he’s been the ICC chairman for close to two years now, Manohar, the former BCCI president, held the reins in Vidarbha cricket and was the sole voice on all cricket-related matters in that region for years.
Jaiswal, however, denied any link between Manohar’s visit to Zimbabwe and the VCA’s arrangement with ZC. He stated that the trip had nothing to do with the Zimbabwean juniors being presently in Nagpur.
“We had talks from even before Shashank (Manohar) visited Zimbabwe. There is no MoU as of such yet, but we are looking for a long-term plan.
“With this, we think we can help Zimbabwe while at the same time our team will also benefit playing against them,” he added.
During his trip to Zimbabwe, Manohar said his and the ICC’s aim was to aid Zimbabwe cricket in reviving itself.
The ZC over the years and especially in recent times have been riddled with controversies and issues, while having to deal with a severe bank debt.
They have as a result had to rely heavily on the more established and stable cricketing countries for support, along with whatever support they get from the world body.
India have historically bailed them out time and again by sending their senior teams to Zimbabwe to play in bilateral series.
Since 2010 when they played a tri-series involving Sri Lanka, India have made four tours to Zimbabwe. They, in fact, went there for two consecutive years in 2015 and 2016.
While they generally have picked second-string squads for these tours, they even had MS Dhoni leading the side last year for three ODIs and T20s. — Indian Express
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