Puma Cricket extends support to Zimbabwe's Ryan Burl after cricketer pleads for sponsor on Twitter

A day after sharing his ordeal on social media, Zimbabwe cricketer Ryan Burl announced that Puma Cricket has extended their support. The 27-year-old took to Twitter to announce the development. 

"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. I couldn’t be more grateful to you all. Thanks so much @PUMA," the left-handed batsman confirmed on Twitter. 

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. I couldn’t be more grateful to you all. Thanks so much @PUMA — Ryan Burl (@ryanburl3) May 23, 2021

Puma Cricket had responded to the Burl's tweet earlier in the day and had assured him of complete support. "Time to put the glue away, I got you covered @ryanburl3," the sports brand had tweeted.

Time to put the glue away, I got you covered @ryanburl3  https://t.co/FUd7U0w3U7 — PUMA Cricket (@pumacricket) May 23, 2021

Burl had highlighted the plight of Zimbabwe's cricketers on Twitter.

The 27-year-old, who has played 3 Tests, 18 ODIs and 25 T20Is, on Saturday tweeted a picture of his ripped shoe, a glue stick and some tools to fix it. He wrote, "Any chance we can get a sponsor so we don't have to glue our shoes back after every series."

Any chance we can get a sponsor so we don’t have to glue our shoes back after every series  @newbalance @NewBalance_SA @NBCricket @ICAssociation pic.twitter.com/HH1hxzPC0m — Ryan Burl (@ryanburl3) May 22, 2021

Zimbwabe, who have seen talented cricketers such as Alistair Campbell, Heath Streak, Andy and Grant Flower, Tatenda Taibu, Henry Olonga and Neil Johnson, among others play for the country, have seen the standards plummet of late.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) had suspended the country's cricket board in 2019 due to government interference and disallowed them from competing in the T20 World Cup Qualifiers later that year.

However, Zimbabwe were reinstated in October, but since then most of their tours have got cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the one where India were scheduled to visit the country for a limited-overs series in August 2020.

The Babar Azam-led Pakistan had toured Zimbabwe in April-May this year, making a clean sweep of the two-Test series and winning the T20I series 2-1. 

- with inputs from IANS