Zimbabwe's IPL players

[CrimsonAvenger]

One very encouraging news...

I found Russel Tiffin officiating in today's IPL match. Heartening to see that the money minded management has not fogotten someone like Tiffin. All the best for him...

[andy24]

taibu played in w inning side last nite. chiped in with a handy 15. not bad considaring the top score was 26 for the riders.

[CrimsonAvenger]

taibu played in w inning side last nite. chiped in with a handy 15. not bad considaring the top score was 26 for the riders.

Well, I was caught in a dilemma as to which team to support in that game. Taibu's presence in Kolkata Knight Riders team wanted a part of me to support them, but, their opponents, Bangalore Royal Challengers, are like my home team. I have lived in and around Bangalore throughout my life, and what more, their playing kits resemble those of my favorite international team: Zimbabwe . I chose Bangalore over Kolkata and ended up on losing side

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Taibu out for 9 in today's match, but in fairness he was going for the bash with only 3 balls to go in the innings.

[Detective RDS]

IPL season 2 will be held from April 10 to May 29.The dividation of players will be started soon.Infact,I think it will start just after a week.

Zimbabwe has only one player in the IPL season 1 and that was Tatenda Taibu in the
'Kolkatta Knight Riders' team.It is said that Taibu is a world class player of Zimbabwe.But it was difficult for him to make into the 11 as Kiwi wicket-keeper and agressive batsman Brendon McCullam was also in the side too.

In the IPL season 2,I have feeling that 1 more player should get the chance and he is Raymond Price.He has the experience of playing in the English county cricket for Worcestashire.He has 69 wickets in 18 tests and a good part of them was against Australia and West Indies.He is an economical bowller too.Price played 28 domestic T20 and picked up 24 wickets at an average of 26,best figure 3/14,economy 6.56 its good in T20 format.He played most of his domestic T20 in the English county cricket.He has played 4 T20 International and picked up 5 wickets at an average of 10.40,best figure 2/6 and maintained a brilliant economy rate of 3.25.He played all his international T20 this year in Canada where Zimbabwe played along with Sri Lanka,Pakistan and Canada.His bowlling figure of the 4 matches r as follows:

*4-0-9-2 vs Sri Lanka
*4-1-17-1 vs Canada
*4-0-20-0 vs Pakistan
*4-2-6-2 vs Canada (3rd place deciding match)

Raymond Price has to be on top of his game in the tri series and ODI series in Bangladesh to join the IPL.In the IPL season 1 3 teams Hyderabad Deccan Chargers,Mumbai Indians and Kings 11 Punjab dont have an overseas spinner.Kings 11 Punjab had Piyush Chawla,Ramesh Power ;Mumbai Indians had Harbhajan ;Deccan Chargers had Pragyan Ojha along with Shahid Afridi.If the teams remain almost same,Raymond Price can make into one of these 3 teams.

Another player I dont think will be chosen in this season but in the future he can join the IPL and he is Sean Williams.Well,he has played 26 ODIs and scored 618 runs at an average of 29.42 and has 7 fifties,striking rate 71.61,has to be in the 80s mark I reckon.Although he has played only 1 International and domestic T20 against Bangladesh in 2006,where he scored 38 runs with a striking rate of 97.43.

Besides them I cant see any chance of a Zimbabwean to be chosen for IPL season 2.

[Detective RDS]

Well,sadly Tatenda Taibu is omitted from the IPL season 2.But I did find an article about him in the BCCI website where he talked about his captaincy (published last year).So,I think I should post here it:

Link: http://www.bcci.tv/646.html

One day, I too can be a great captain: Taibu


Tatenda Taibu may be just 24 years of age with a small frame to go with it but he's one lad who's got a mature head on his shoulders having already captained a national side.

In an exclusive interview with one of our reporters, the Zimbabwean talks about his experiences with the Kolkata Knight Riders at the IPL, sharing team space with the big names of world cricket and the future of Zimbabwe cricket.

Although he has not yet got a look-in for any of the matches in the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL), Taibu agrees that the tournament has been great so far and his team (Kolkata Knight Riders) have been playing some very good cricket.

Taibu has captained Zimbabwe in 29 one-day internationals and is now participating in Twenty20 cricket which includes more fast hitting and sheer entertainment. About the currently ongoing IPL, Taibu said that the experience was "as good for the players as it is for the crowd." He added that all the experienced guys in his team are enjoying what he termed as a "brilliant" format of the game.

He is the only Zimbabwean player playing in this edition of the IPL alongside big names like Brendon McCullum, Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly. The young glovesman said that it was great learning from players of their calibre as they were all experienced individuals.

He was the youngest one-day international captain to ever lead a team onto the cricket field at 19 years and 11 months. Asked about that with regard to the IPL, Taibu seemed motivated to learn saying, "It was a tough job but I learnt a lot. I took this opportunity (IPL) to talk to Gayle, Ponting and Ganguly so that I can learn as much as I can about captaincy so that maybe, one day I can captain the side again. And maybe I can do a great job when it comes to that."

Zimbabwe was once considered a force to reckon with in international cricket with players like Heath Streak, Andy Flower and Alistair Campbell.

Taibu was confident that another good era of Zimbabwean cricketers was not far away saying, "We can bring it back. It only takes a bit of time. The guys that are playing now are very talented but they just lack a bit of experience. So, the more games we play, the guys will earn experience and with a bit of experience, we'll have proper conviction where the younger guys are coming in. With a good set-up they can learn form the older guys in the side."