Tatenda Taibu gets SL citizenship, could be a late inclusion in their World Cup squad!
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 11:48 pm
In an extraordinary development, former Zimbabwe cricket captain Tatenda Taibu's Sri Lankan citizenship application was fast tracked by the government last month and he is now officially a Sri Lankan citizen according to sources close to the Sri Lankan foreign affairs office. While the news is still under the wraps, reasons for this sudden development are being discussed widely in the cricketing circles here in Sri Lanka.
Having last played for Zimbabwe in 2012, Taibu, through the citizenship criteria, is available for Sri Lankan selection right away and it appears that Sri Lanka Cricket wanted to take advantage of this situation. Given the lackluster results on the field especially in the shorter formats of the game for the last couple of years, SLC are doing everything in their power for a better show at cricket's showpiece event, the ODI Cricket World Cup to be held in the UK later this year.
According one source close to SLC who wants to remain anonymous, SLC was pursuing the citizenship application of Taibu with the government from January of this year itself, and got the breakthrough recently with the help of some of the cricket-friendly members of parliament. It is unclear at what point Taibu applied for the citizenship though, but his participation in the Sri Lankan domestic season from December last year is now being seen as part of this masterplan. It is being reported that Taibu was not averse to this idea right from the beginning of his involvement in Sri Lanka, although, at that time, he attributed his cricketing comeback to the desire to show his son his playing capabilities. If everything goes as planned, the Zimbabwe-born wicket keeper batsman of world acclaim who turns 36 this year would be named in the squad of the final 15 that carries the island nation's hopes of repeating the miracles of 1996.
Source: The Lankan Herald.
