With recent success against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe should now make every opportunity count against top-ranked teams

Aug 16, 2022 - 22:30

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With recent success against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe should now make every opportunity count against top-ranked teams

“They should be playing more matches and big teams like India, Australia and South Africa should play more often. We missed out on the T20 World Cup the last time, but the players and the Zimbabwe Cricket are very excited and happy that we have qualified for it this time.”

Former Zimbabwe coach Lalchand was quoted as saying by the Times of India, providing hope to Zimbabwean cricketers and their fans alike, that their country would play the top-ranked cricketing teams more often.

Zimbabwean cricket has endured a lot fore more than two decades. Political turmoil, corruption and administrative problems have resurfaced in Zimbabwean cricket time and again, but recent limited-overs series victories over higher ranked Bangladesh might have given the struggling African side a glimmer of hope. A hope that they would get to play top-ranked teams even more frequently.

2019 was a tough year for Zimbabwe. Not having qualified for the 50-over World Cup in England was later overshadowed by off-field issues. Back in July 2019, Zimbabwe Cricket was suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for violating the government interference norms, but as a respite that ban was lifted in October that year, allowing Zimbabwe to take part in future ICC tournaments.

All the off-field issues haunting Zimbabwe meant that they had to forego qualifying for the 2021 T20 World Cup.

The first part of 2022 was largely forgettable as far as their on-field performance is concerned. Barring an ODI win against Sri Lanka in January, series defeats against Sri Lanka, Namibia and Afghanistan put Zimbabwe on the backfoot. However, thus far, the latter part of 2022 has given hope to Zimbabwean cricket. Moreover, Zimbabwe even qualified for the 2022 T20 World Cup after beating Netherlands in the Qualifiers’ final in July this year.

Their recent showing against Bangladesh in the T20I series and the ODI series (where they won 2-1 in both) is a testament that Zimbabwe, despite all the past off-field problems, just cannot be written off.

What next for Zimbabwe?

For Zimbabwe, their journey does not end with the Bangladesh series highs. A three-match ODI series against India starting 18 August provides their cricketers a perfect opportunity to test themselves against some of the best cricketers in the world.

Following the three-match ODI series against India, Zimbabwe travel to Australia for as many ODIs later in August.

“Before we dispersed for a few days after last night’s game, I told the boys in the dressing room that India coming here is a good opportunity for us to really score and get good results against one of the best sides in the world. I told them that, I want us to believe that we aren’t here just to add up to the numbers and watch India play really good cricket, but we are here to challenge. I am hoping in these three games, we can challenge India really hard,” coach David Houghton was quoted as saying by Sportstar, shortly after their ODI series win over Bangladesh.

Zimbabwe do play in the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia, but that will be in the premilinary round ,where they will face Ireland, West Indies and Scotland. Should they put up their best and qualify for the tournament proper (Super 12), that would be Zimbabwe’s biggest challenge yet, over the last few years.