Zimbabwe announces 18-man squad for the T20 series

All-rounders Sean Williams and Craig Ervine have been left out of the Zimbabwe’s 18-man squad for the three T20Is against India starting June 18 in Harare. Both miss out due to injuries they picked up during the three-match ODI series. Ervine was ruled out of the ODI series after injuring his hamstring in the first ODI, while Williams, who replaced him for the second game, fractured his finger at training soon after the toss.

Uncapped Tapiwa Mufudza earned a call-up while the Brian Chari, Tinotenda Mutombodzi and Chamu Chibhabha have been recalled to the T20 side. Tendai Chisoro and Tawanda Mupariwa, who were part of the ODI squad, have been left out.

Chari, an opening batsman who is yet to play T20Is, impressed for Zimbabwe A in their home series against Bangladesh A in November last year, when he struck a century to secure a draw in the second four-day fixture. Meanwhile, Mufudza, the off-spinner, who made his franchise debut in 2011, has picked up 15 wickets in 10 T20s for Mountaineers, with best figures of 5 for 20.

“We’re not going to reflect too much on the one-dayers, we are just going to look to hit the ground running in T20s,” Cremer said after the ODI series loss. “We’re going to try our best to turn things around, there’s not much else I can say to that.”

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He hoped Zimbabwe, who are ranked below Afghanistan and Netherlands, would draw inspiration from their T20 win over India last year. “I think it’s motivating enough that the last T20 we played against India here is the one we won,” he said.

“It’s motivating enough knowing how it felt when we won the last time, how good the crowd was and how we enjoyed that. Guys are looking forward to doing well and obviously having a disappointing one-day series makes us even more motivated to do well in the T20.”

Zimbabwe squad: Graeme Cremer (capt), Sikandar Raza, Brian Chari, Tendai Chatara, Chamu Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Neville Madziva, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Wellington Masakadza, Peter Moor, Tapiwa Mufudza, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Richmond Mutumbami (wk), Taurai Muzarabani, Vusi Sibanda, Donald Tiripano, Malcolm Waller

Changes:

In: Brian Chari, Donald Tiripano, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Timycen Maruma, Tapiwa Mufudza, Chamu Chibhabha

Out: Sean Williams, Tinashe Panyangara, Luke Jongwe, Tendai Chisoro