Top Zimbabwe cricket bowler Tendai Chatara broke the internet last week after an audio in which he was blasting convener of selectors Dave Mutendera and Elton Chigumbura, blaming a flawed selection process for Zimbabwe's struggles on the international stage went viral.

 So bad have been the Chevrons' performances on the international stage that they failed to qualify for both the ODI and T20 World Cup in the same year back in 2023.

 First, Zimbabwe missed out on the 2023 ICC World Cup despite hosting the qualifiers with  Sri Lanka and Netherlands grabbing the two available tickets to the global showpiece in July. The Chevrons went on to embarrassingly fail to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup after taking part in the continental qualifiers in November 2023 losing to Namibia and Uganda, who ended up making the trip to the US, Canada and West Indies, which hosted the event.

 After the monumental failure, ZC appointed a three-person committee to look into Zimbabwe's failure to get to world events and to review the organisational structure, chaired by Harare-based attorney Lloyd Mhishi.

 After that, ZC resolved to restructure its operations but interestingly Mutendera was retained as the convener of selectors.

 In his rant in the leaked audio, Chatara claimed that Mutendera knows nothing about the game.

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 "David (Mutendera) knows nothing; he didn’t play much cricket. He just gets instructions and does what he is told. Diva (Mutendera) does not care if you are good or not.

 “How many coaches have left while he remains there? He (Mutendera) will just say, ‘I gave them who they requested’,” Chatara quizzed.

 In fact, Zimbabwe has had to let go of some of the best cricket coaches such as the late Lalchand Rajput and Dave Houghton with Mutendera being spared the axe.

 Perhaps Mutendera is the problem in the current ZC structures and the reason why the team is failing to perform.

 It is also important to look at Mutendera's cricket credentials having played in just one Test, nine ODIs, 33 First-class and 24 List A matches.

 Such credentials are barely enough for someone to plays such a crucial role in the country's cricket structures.

 The selection process is the reason why the national team has often been disowned by some fans and labelled "Takashinga select".

Despite apologising for his outburst which was not meant for public consumption, Chatara's claims of nepotism and favouritism in the Chevrons' selection have elements of truth.

 Chatara was particularly upset for being left out of the squad that played the two Test match series in Bulawayo, where Blessing Muzarabani was picked alongside young and unheralded fast bowlers Newman Nyamhuri and Trevor Gwandu for the first Test.

 He claimed  that Elton Chigumbura, who is one of the selectors, influenced the selection of Gwandu and Nyamhuri, who are from his academy.

We have seen over the years players who have been underperforming like Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza and Wessley Madhevere being picked all the time.

 Chatara predicted that Zimbabwe will lose to Afghanistan in the test series and surely they did.

 And Zimbabwe are in danger of losing another home full series against Ireland next month if something does not change.

 Another T20 World Cup is also on the horizon and Zimbabwe could miss out on yet another World Cup appearance.

 It may have been a case of sour grapes for Chatara but his rant gave a peek into the real challenges bedevilling Zimbabwe cricket.

 While ZC did not at any point respond to the leaked audio, one hopes it looks into the issues raised and resolve them for the good of the game's.