Zimbabwe Batter Raises Voice to Get Sponsorship Support; Posts Picture of Ripped Shoes

Zimbabwe cricket is going through a tough time with the financial crisis in the governing body. Batter Ryan Burl took to social media to shed light on the conditions of the country's cricketers and pointed out how the players failed to afford decent shoes due to lack of sponsorship.

Almost every cricket board has got some hefty paycheques through sponsorship and broadcast rights but Zimbabwe Cricket which was at the top of their game during the late 90s and early 2000s, are not able to match up the level with other influential boards.

The 27-year-old Burl, a left-handed middle-order batsman who has played three Tests, 18 ODIs and 25 T20Is, on Saturday, tweeted a picture of his ripped shoe, a glue stick and some tools to fix it.

He wrote, "Any chance we can get a sponsor so we don't have to glue our shoes back after every series. Crying emoji."

Ryan Burl (@ryanburl3) May 22, 2021

Zimbabwe, who have seen talented cricketers such as Alistair Campbell, Heath Streak, Andy and Grant Flower, Tatenda Taibu, Henry Olonga and Neil Johnson, among others play for the country, have seen the standards plummet of late.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) had suspended the country's cricket board in 2019 due to government interference and disallowed them from competing in the T20 World Cup Qualifiers later that year.

However, Zimbabwe were reinstated in October, but since then most of their tours have got cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the one where India were scheduled to visit the country for a limited-overs series in August 2020.

The Babar Azam-led Pakistan had toured Zimbabwe in April-May this year, making a clean sweep of the two-Test series and winning the T20I series 2-1.

Burl's tweet has gone viral with several cricket lovers highlighting the inequality among cricket-playing nations.

"Surely these pathetic situations, this inequality of capital distribution is going to ruin the scope and popularity of the cricket. @ICC is equally responsible for these situations," wrote a cricket fan.