India and Zimbabwe women observe silence for umpire Sarah Dambanevana
India and Zimbabwe women wore black armbands and observed silence before the first T20I in honour of umpire Sarah Dambanevana, who died aged 36.
The Indian and Zimbabwe women's cricket teams observed a moment of silence before the first T20I in Raipur on Friday in memory of umpire Sarah Dambanevana, who died in Harare on October 12 at the age of 36. Both teams and match officials wore black armbands for the tribute.
Dambanevana, who represented Zimbabwe as a player before becoming an umpire, had undergone a medical procedure in March this year. India opted to field in the opening match of the three-match T20I series, which also marks the start of Smriti Mandhana's captaincy tenure.
Middle-order batter Niki Prasad made her debut for India. The teams are playing a bilateral series for the first time, with India fielding Shafali Verma, Anushka Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma and Arundhati Reddy among others.
CricHubb Take
The tribute underscores how Zimbabwe's cricket infrastructure has lost institutional knowledge at a time when the national team is trying to rebuild after years of administrative turmoil. Dambanevana's dual role as former player and umpire represented a scarce resource in associate cricket.