Atul Kasbekar, a fashion photographer, tweeted a photo of one billion Zimbabwe dollars, a sum of money gifted to him by Ajinkya Rahane, the temporary India captain during the their tour of Zimbabwe last month, expressing his wonder at the high numeric value of the money: ‘@ajinkyarahane88 came back from Zimbabwe n got me a billion dollars Thank you, I’ retiring.’ The Mumbai and India batsman took India to a 3-0 One-Day International (ODI) series win against the home team in Harare, and a 2-1 win in the Twenty20 series that followed. The Indian team was effectively a second string side as the best players, including MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli, opted out of the tour. READ: Andy Flower and Henry Olonga protest against the Mugabe regime
Due to mismanagement of its economy, Zimbabwe have had a period of hyperinflation that has seen the rates of inflation go through the roof, rendering normal living difficult. It stemmed from some rigid political and economic stances taken by its President Robert Mugabe, who has been criticised the world over for his hardline approach to rectifying the colonial wrongs of the country’s British past. In the middle of 2000s, rates of all commodities increased to unbelievable levels, and this made headlines. Residents were unable to afford basic eatables like a bag of potatoes, which, for example, according to news reports, had a difference in cost of 70 million Zimbabwe dollars in its prince between two weeks in March, 2008. As of now, one US dollar is equivalent to 360.90 Zimbabwe dollars. READ: Bangladesh cricket unleash ‘dollar’ and ‘rouble’ on Zimbabwe
The corollary of the economic and political upheavals during a period marked by extremist policies by Robert Mugabe was felt by Zimbabwe cricket, too. Soon, the white players, labelled rebels due to protests against decisions to racially modify the Zimbabwe team, disappeared, the quality suffered, and Zimbabwe’s team turned black. When the volatile situation was at its peak at the start of 2000s, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, two members of the Zimbabwe team, protested against the ‘death of democracy in Zimbabwe’, during the World Cup, and never played international cricket again.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.