Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani (PTI Photo) CHENNAI: With India’s T20 World Cup semi-final hopes on the line, their fans will be praying for a big win against Zimbabwe on Thursday and hoping that Blessing Muzarabani stays close at hand. Standing at 6ft 8in, Zimbabwe’s speed at this World Cup was hard to miss. The 29-year-old leads Zimbabwe’s wicket-taking column and is second overall with 11 wickets, with an economy rate of 7.06.He also set up Zimbabwe’s win over Australia with a four-wicket haul. The lanky bowler operated in the toughest phases of a T20 innings – taking the new ball forward and returning at the death – and looked effective in both. His height gives him natural bounce, but it’s his discipline backed by changes of pace that make it difficult for batsmen to line him up.
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Zimbabwe head coach Justin Sammons and all-rounder Ryan Burl were quick to praise Muzarabani’s impact and resilience. Having spent four to six months before the tournament with a back injury, Burl felt the bowler deserved more credit for how quickly he found his rhythm again.“He had a lot of self-doubt about his own body and how he felt. The success he had with the ball was amazing. It’s not something that’s just come out now. He’s done it in international cricket before. He’s one of those bowlers who is obviously very tall and comes a little bit off the upright. So you bounce the ball over the upright and bounce the ball back to the left. I’m much happier knowing he’s in my team and not in opposition,” Burl said.For Sammons, what separates Muzarabani isn’t just his height, but the consistency with which he cuts into his areas. “He’s been brilliant for us. It’s so good to see him come back and run down the ground. He’s been really good at controlling his length and line so he hasn’t given the batsmen too many loose and easy balls on the boundary.”If they are looking for a boundary, there is an element of risk that they had to take,” the coach said.
