This is a shocking and worrying news for fans of Zimbabwe
KECH, BALOCHISTAN: An international cricket organisation on Thursday suspended Zimbabwe for being unable to keep the sport free from government interference. After the suspension, Zimbabwe can’t participate in any ICC events.
However, the decision came in after the Zimbabwe Cricket Board was suspended by the government last month and replaced with an interim committee. “We do not take the decision to suspend a member lightly but we must keep our sport free from political interference”, ICC chairman Shashank Manohar said.
In 2005, due to political turmoil, Zimbabwe was suspended from playing Test cricket. The suspension was lifted after six years in 2011. However, they continued to play ODIs and T20Is at the highest level.
Even though they could not participate in the World Cup on the basis of ODI rankings, the team were due to compete in both the men and women World T20 qualifiers.
Regardless, this is a shocking and worrying news for the fans of Zimbabwe, who were waiting to see some achievements for the team and country.
Bakhtiyar Phullan
Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2019.
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