Zimbabwe team arrives in India for 40-day tour

After a three hour flight delay, the Zimbabwe team arrived in Mumbai on Monday, without their captain Heath Streak - and their baggage. The Zimbabweans kick off their 40-day long tour of India with a three day match against the National Cricket Academy XI at Indore on November 8.

Speaking to reporters soon after their arrival, team manager Babu Memon said that the baggage was held up at London airport due to a technical problem while Streak had to stay back to get his tooth extracted. However, he added ``Streak is expected to join the team on November 9 at Indore.'' This conveys that the Zimbabwe team would kick off their tour without their captain taking part. Memon said ``Another member of the 15-man squad, Brian Murphy, too will be joining the team later as he had to complete his final year exams in Harare.''

Meanwhile team coach Carl Rackemann has already landed in the country and is expected to join the side at Indore directly.

Speaking about the tour that lay ahead, Memon said ``We are expecting a tough series ahead of us as we know from our past experience that the Indians are hard to beat on their own soil, But it will be a very good exposure for the youngsters in our side.''

Turning his attention to his team he felt that it was a young side with a handful of experienced players like Alistair Cambell, Guy Whittall (vice captain), Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Paul Strang and the captain himself to assist the youngsters. The team, after a few hours rest, proceeded to Indore.

Zimbabwe on their previous tour to India in 1992-93 had lost the oneoff Test and all the three one-dayers. But when India visited Zimbabwe in 1998, the visitors lost the one-off Test.

After the game at Indore, Zimbabwe play the Board President's at Faridabad from November 13 to 15. Thereafter they play back to back Tests at New Delhi from November 18 to 22 and at Nagpur from November 25 to 29.

This apart, the Zimbabweans are slated to play five One-day internationals at Cuttack on December 2, Ahmedabad on December 5, Jodhpur on December 8, Kanpur on December 11 and Rajkot on December 14 before leaving for home on December 15.