Born in Mutare, the fourth largest city in Zimbabwe, Tirpano is a right-arm fast bowler and a useful lower-order batsman. He forced his way into the first-class scene in 2007 and was immediately in the thick of the action. Well under six feet tall, he occasionally tops 130kph with the ball.

He made his ODI debut in the home series against Afghanistan in 2014 and impressed the selectors by claiming a fifer in his third game. Tiripano's abilities with the new ball soon made the Zimbabwe talent spotters take note and he soon earned his Test cap for the one-off Test against South Africa in the same year where he took two wickets in the match. He still continues to be a regular for the national team in all the three formats.

Interestingly, Tiripano is married to Chipo Mugeri, who has captained the Zimbabwean women's cricket team. There are several sports power couples, and the Tiripano's have a really strong case to be mentioned when such pairings are talked of. Just like the Australian cricket couple of fast bowler Mitchell Starc and wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy, Donald and Chipo also practice together at times.