Richmond Mutumbami, the Zimbabwean wicketkeeper-batsman, has been ruled out of the second Twenty-Twenty International (T20I) against India on Monday (June 20). The 27-year-old suffered a right hip injury during the first T20I game which his side went on to win by a margin of two runs and shocked the seasoned Indian cricket team.
Mutumbami, who came out to bat at number 3 in the last game, was struck in the right hip area while batting against Indian medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat on Saturday. The incident occurred during the sixth over of the Zimbabwe inning when the batsman took a blow to his midrif from a back-of-a-length delivery. The right-hander was in immense pain for several minutes before being forced to retire hurt and was being helped off the field.
Swelling in the affected region made it difficult for the batsman to even stand on his feet and ruled out his further participation in the game. He was then taken to a hospital for X-rays, which revealed that Mutumbami had not suffered a dislocation or fracture. Zimbabwe Cricket said in a release that his condition is currently being monitored and he is under treatment for a swift recovery.
The Masvingo-born player has been advised to use crutches to take the pressure off his hip area during his recovery period and will be re-assessed before the third T20 for his further involvement in the series.
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Middle order batsman Malcolm Waller performed the wicket-keeping duties in Mutumbami's absence during the first T20I but it is likely that the specialist wicketkeeper Peter Moor will replace the injured keeper in the lineup as the gloveman. The other possible replacement is the 28-year-old Timycen Maruma. Zimbabwe has more things to worry as batsman Brian Chari is also ruled out of the upcoming match as he is still recovering from a knee injury.
After three consecutive hammerings in the 50-over format, Zimbabwe's spirited show on Saturday finally gave them and their passionate supporters something to cheer about. A gutsy inning of 54 runs from just 26 balls by Elton Chigumbura and a brilliantly executed last over by Neville Madziva lead guided the hosts to the get a lead in the series.
While India looked completely unchallenged in One Day Internationals (ODIs), the T20 series is quite open with Zimbabwe ahead and need just one win in the next couple of matches to record a historic win. Zimbabwe will look to seal a rare series win when on Monday while India will eye a comeback in the upcoming contest.
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