By Munyaradzi Madzokere
Zimbabwe cricket legend Andy Flower has expressed delight at how countryman Blessing Muzarabani’s cricket has evolved in the past couple of years.
Flower is Muzarabani’s coach at Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Premier League which is currently underway in Abhu Dhabi.
The Multan Sultans drafted the lanky 24-year-old seamer into their squad for the remainder of the PSL as a replacement for Obed McCoy from West Indies, who suffered a back injury.
Muzarabani’s arrival has coincided with a change of fortunes for the Sultans, which is the inform team at the moment having won four matches on the trot.
The Zimbabwean has played in the last three, including Friday night’s 80 run victory over Lahore Qalanders which lifted the Sultans to second place on the standings and ensured qualification for the playoffs.
Muzarabani chipped in with impressive figures of 2/27 and has now captured four wickets in three matches.
“It gives me great pleasure to have a fellow Zimbabwean in the squad but also, initially to watch your young career (grow),” Flower said to Muzarabani during the final team talk ahead of the bowler’s PSL debut against Pershawar Zalmi on Monday last week.
“It is nice that you had such a good start against Pakistan last year, well done on that and very good luck today,” Flower added.
The right-arm fast bowler recorded his best bowling figures of 5/49 for Zimbabwe against Pakistan in ODI cricket late last year after starring in a historic Super Over for the country.
He boasts of 25 ODI wickets in 21ODIs, 21 in 15 T20s and 15 in just 5 Tests for Zimbabwe.
In the PSL he has looked the part finishing with bowling figures of 1/37, 1/8 and 2/27 in the three appearances for the Sultans respectively
“I’m really happy to be here.
“It’s a big opportunity for me. Because right now, I feel like I’m a role model to a lot of young guys coming up in Zimbabwe,” the fast bowler told Geo.tv in an exclusive interview while on mandatory quarantine before PSL action.
“I know that a lot of guys are looking up to me and they know PSL is one of the big leagues in the world. There are some, who don’t really believe they can work hard and they can achieve those goals. So, me performing at the highest stage is just telling them that if you work hard, it’s possible.
“So, I’m really trying to just put belief in their minds, telling them that it is possible, you can achieve what you can achieve, you just have to work hard for it.
“I’m really grateful for the opportunity. I’m going to try and then do my best as I always do.
“And hopefully, win games for the team and entertain the fans and bring good cricket,” Muzarabani said.
Two Zimbabweans Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza have played in the Pakistan Premier League in the past.
Multan Sultans are in second place with 10 points in nine matches four behind leaders Islamabad United and the top two teams were scheduled for a clash last night.
Flower on the other hand was last week part of a special list of 10 players inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
The inductees have been classified into five broad eras which are the pre-World War 1 period (early era), the period between the two World Wars (inter-war era), the period 1971 to 1995 (ODI era), and 1996 to 2015 (modern era).
Flower and Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara represented the modern era.
The former Zimbabwean played 63 Test matches as a wicketkeeper-batsman for Zimbabwe, scoring 4 794 runs at an average of 51.54 and taking 151 catches and nine stumpings.
However, Flower’s international career came to an end during the 2003 World Cup, when he and the fast bowler Henry Olonga wore black armbands during all of Zimbabwe’s games to protest what they termed “the death of democracy” in the country.
It is interesting to note Flower still identifies himself as a Zimbabwean.