Perth: Lalchand Rajput forgot the exact date but remembers it was in July 2018 when he took over as the head coach of Zimbabwe men’s team. The next day the five-match ODI series against Pakistan started. The first ODI match against Pakistan was played on 13 July 2018. “A day before the match, I was informed by Zimbabwe Cricket that Shaun Irwin, Craig Williams, Sikandar Raza and Brendan Taylor have been out due to an ongoing salary dispute with the board,” Rajput said. I was surprised.’
He said, ‘Zimbabwe Cricket’s Managing Director Givemore Makoni told me that we cannot cancel the series. We got an inexperienced team and in the first match we got 100 runs (107 runs) and then in the third match we were all out for 50 (67 runs). After that happened, I knew I had to stop for things to turn around. When India won the first T20 World Cup title in 2007, its coach was also Rajput.
Big changes in four yearsThis former Indian batsman said, ‘We failed to qualify for the 2019 ODI World Cup and then got suspended. That was the worst phase so I am proud of this transformation in just four years. Zimbabwe thrashed Pakistan by one run to register one of their finest wins in the T20 World Cup on Wednesday and no one could be happier than Rajput, the current technical director of the national team.
Rajput said, ‘My dream was to see him qualify for the T20 World Cup in Australia. It’s icing on the cake and I’m proud of my boys.’ Rajput was with the team till the qualifiers but he wanted to be with his family during Diwali and hence returned.