Less than a day after Zimbabwe batsman Ryan Burl had posted a picture of his worn-out shoes on Twitter, seeking sponsorship for his national cricket team, giant sportswear brand Puma has come forward to help.
A left-handed middle-order batsman, Burl had posted a picture of his shoe, a glue stick and some fixing tools that highlighted the sorry state of the Zimbabwe cricket team now.
"Any chance we can get a sponsor so we don't have to glue our shoes back after every series," asked the 27-year-old, who has played three Tests, 18 ODIs and 25 T20Is so far.
After the tweet went viral within hours, Puma retweeted his post stating, “Time to put the glue away, I got you covered."
Time to put the glue away, I got you covered @ryanburl3 💁🏽 https://t.co/FUd7U0w3U7
— PUMA Cricket (@pumacricket) May 23, 2021
Later, Ryan Burl confirmed Puma’s sponsorship deal for the Zimbabwe team and thanked the social media community for extending support. "I am so proud to announce that I’ll be joining the @pumacricket team. This is all due to the help and support from the fans over the last 24 hours," he tweeted.
After being granted the ODI status just before the 1983 World Cup, it had taken Zimbabwe nine more years to gain the Test status. However, the cricket board was suspended by ICC in 2019 due to government interference and Zimbabwe couldn’t participate in the T20 World Cup Qualifiers.
Zimbabwe have since been reinstated into ICC and the team recently hosted the Pakistan cricket team for a two-match Test series and a three-match T20I series.
Featured Image: JEKESAI NJIKIZANA / AFP
