T20 World Cup 2022: Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine makes use of 11 bowling options for the warm-up game against Sri Lanka

The T20 World Cup 2022 is all set to commence on October 16 in Australia and the warm up games have already started for countries. Among the warm-up fixtures, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka are squaring off against each other on Tuesday (October 11) and the ongoing game saw a rare instance taking place. After Zimbabwe opted to bowl first, the skipper Craig Ervine rotated the bowlers more often and ended up using 11 bowlers in the game.  

Notably, among the 15-memberZimbabwe squad for the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, only skipper Craig Ervine, the wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva, Tony Munyonga and Clive Madande did not roll their arm over and it certainly caught the eye among the fans. Clearly, the number of all-round options for Zimbabwe is a major positive going into the tournament while most teams fancy going in with five pure bowlers and an all-rounder.

The opponents Sri Lanka had different plans as they picked their best playing XI for the game and did not use the option of Charith Asalanka who could have batted if needed in the first innings. It has to be remembered that the bench players could bat or bowl if needed in the warm up games which is in contrary to an international fixture.  

Despite using 11 bowling resources, Zimbabwe bowlers struggled against a quality Sri Lankan batting lineup. The record of most bowlers used by an team in T20Is is held by Papua New Guinea who used nine against Bermuda in 2019.

Sri Lanka post a big total on board in the first innings

Meanwhile, the current Asian champions Sri Lanka continued to impress and got to 188 for 5 in their 20 overs in the first innings after losing the toss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Kusal Mendis scored a blistering 29-ball 54 which included six fours and three sixes while Dasun Shanaka (16*) and Wanindu Hasaranga (37*) finished off the innings extraordinarily.

For Zimbabwe, Sikandar Raza was the pick of the bowlers with 1 for 8 in his two overs while the fast bowlers did go for a few. Zimbabwe also have another warm-up fixture against Namibia on October 13th before their campaign starts on Ireland on 17th October in the qualifier stages.