Zimbabwe players were eager to play against India, says coach Lalchand

It could have been a real test. Every national team coach wants to play against India," Lalchand Rajput told mid-day.

Former India opener and current Zimbabwe coach Lalchand Rajput, 58, has said that it-s a huge opportunity lost for him and his boys after the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI announced the cancellation of India-s tour to the African nation on Friday.

"Being Zimbabwe-s coach, it [hosting India] was a big opportunity for me. It could have been a real test. Every national team coach wants to play against India," Rajput told mid-day.

BCCI called off India-s tour of Zimbabwe in August three ODIs, beginning on August 22 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic that has restricted its national cricketers from even getting back to training together. The development comes a day after Sri Lanka Cricket announced that India-s limited overs tour in June-July three ODIs and three T20Is, beginning on June 24 had been postponed indefinitely for the same reason.

In November 2018, Rajput guided Zimbabwe to their first overseas Test win after 17 long years, beating Bangladesh by 151 runs in Sylhet, near Dhaka. Rajput, who was India-s coach when MS Dhoni & Co won the 2007 World T20 title in South Africa, said that the Zimbabwe players were eager to take on the star-studded Indian line-up.

"Every member of our side was keen to play against the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Jasprit Bumrah. Last year, in January, we were supposed to tour India for a limited overs series but BCCI cancelled it and the Indians played against Sri Lanka instead. So this is the second time that we have lost out on playing against India. Hopefully, my team will be third time lucky and will be able to play India in the near future," added Rajput.

With inputs from agencies

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