The Zimbabwe national U-19 team is currently in Nagpur and will stay there for the next few weeks as they are scheduled to play ten matches against the Vidarbha U-19 and the U-23 teams. The team landed in India on Tuesday. All the games are expected to be a 50 overs affair, the same format for the junior World Cup scheduled for next year. This tour of Zimbabwe is a part of Vidarbha Cricket Association’s (VCA) endeavor to provide support to Zimbabwe cricket regarding the development of their players. Teams of different levels from Zimbabwe will be visiting Nagpur within a year or so.
The Women’s national team of Zimbabwe is also in line to travel here shortly. A return tour for the Vidarbha players, where they will take on Zimbabwe at Harare in the coming months, is confirmed.
Anand Jaiswal, the VCA President, confirmed the news on the player development program and also about the launch of his association.
“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.
It was in mid-August that the International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman Shashank Monohar visited Harare to find ways to revive the sport in Zimbabwe which used to be a promising cricketing country in the past. Manohar who has served as the Chairman of ICC for the last couple of years held the reigns in the Vidarbha Cricket and was the sole voice in deciding on all cricket related matters.
Jaiswal rubbished the talks that Manohar’s visit to Zimbabwe and VCA’s arrangement with ZC has some links. He specifically said that the trip had nothing to do with the junior Zimbabwe players being present in Nagpur.
“We had been 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.