Players would have loved to play against the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, says Zimbabwe coach Lalchand Rajput

Amid COVID-19 outbreak, every sport including cricket has been dealt with a major blow. The global pandemic has rocked the cricket schedule upside down. Recently, BCCI cancelled (or postponed) team India’s tour to Sri Lanka for three ODIs and as many T20Is scheduled in June due to the novel virus.

Meanwhile, they also decided to pull out of their limited-overs tour to Zimbabwe for the same reason. Now, Zimbabwe coach Lalchand Rajput has expressed his disappointment that the Men in Blue, who last played international cricket against New Zealand in March, will not travel later this year for the bilateral series.

Interestingly, this is the second time that the IND-ZIM series has been called off. In January, Zimbabwe was scheduled to play three T20Is against India. But ICC banned their cricket board for not being able to keep their government away from its administration.

Hope we will be third time lucky, says Lalchand Rajput

Lalchand Rajput recited that every side likes to play against Team India. As per him, it would have been a great opportunity for his players to play against some big cricketing stars like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and others.

“It’s sad and unfortunate that this tour has been cancelled. Any team in international cricket would love to play against India. My players would have loved the opportunity to play against the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. Hope we’ll be third time lucky,” Rajput told Times of India.

Meanwhile, international cricket is set to return next month starting July 8 with the three-match Test series between England and West Indies. The Caribbean squad has already reached England and is serving the 14-day quarantine period at the moment. Moreover, Pakistan also announced their squad for their tour to the UK in July-August.

There are other countries too, who are busy in mulling the idea to bring back international cricket. And, looking forward to the conditions, the fans can expect some enthralling action in the near future. At the same time, many international players have also begun their outdoor training in order to regain match fitness.