Zimbabwe cricketer Ryan Burl's plea answered by Puma as ripped shoes picture goes viral

Zimbabwe's left-handed batsman Ryan Burl raised everyone's eyebrows when he took to his Twitter handle and requested a sponsor for his national team and posted a heartbreaking photo of his ripped shoes. Ryan Burl has represented Zimbabwe across all formats (Test, ODIs, and T20) ever since his first appearance at the highest level back in 2017. Ryan Burl has represented the African nation in three Tests, 18 One Day Internationals, and, 25 T20Is respectively. The 27-year-old batsman on Saturday on his Twitter handle shared a photo of his ripped cricket shoes and asked if he and his national team can get a sponsor so that they don't have to glue their cricket shoes after every series. Ryan Burl on his Twitter had written:

Puma comes in aid of Zimbabwe Cricketer Ryan Burl

After Ryan Burl requested a sponsor on Twitter, people on social media were filled with grief and many of them started requesting sports organizations to help Zimbabwe so that the African nation can stand up on its feet. Some also slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the miserable financial condition of the cricket board of Zimbabwe. Now, Puma Cricket has extended its helping hand to Ryan Burl's request. The German multinational corporation took to its Twitter handle and wrote that not Ryan Burl and his team will not have to apply glue on their cricket as from now they will cover them. Puma designs and manufactures athletic and casual footwear, apparel, accessories. Puma cricket on its Twitter wrote:

Ryan Burl extends his gratitude to Puma cricket

Following this, the 27-year-old left-handed middle-order batsman took to his Twitter handle and expressed gratitude to the Sports goods manufacturer company for helping him and his national squad out. Ryan Burl also thanked the people on social media who in the last 24 hours raised his concern on a much larger scale. Ryan Burl on his Twitter wrote:

The state of Zimbabwe Cricket

Zimbabwe Cricket has witnessed an inglorious downfall in the past few years especially in the last decade. The African nation used to be one of the mighty teams back in the late 90s and early 2000s thanks to a few of their once in generation players including the likes of Heath Streak, Alastair Campbell, Tatenda Taibu, Henry Olonga, the Flower brothers (Andy and his younger brother Grant), etc.

In July 2019, the International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended Zimbabwe and disallowed the country into participating in the T20 World Cup Qualifiers later that year. However, Zimbabwe was reinstated by the apex body in October. Since their re-entry, most of their tours got canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic  A proposed limited-overs tour to Zimbabwe by the Indian team, scheduled for August 2020, has also been called off by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) due to the pandemic.

Recently, Babar Azam-led Pakistan had toured Zimbabwe for a bilateral series that consisted of two Test matches and three T20Is between April 21 to May 11. The Men In Green handed a 2-0 whitewash to the hosts in the Test series and clinched the T20I series 2-1. 

(Image Credits: @ryanburl3/Twitter/@Puma)