There is no fitness concern over Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza ahead of their must-win Super 8 clash against India in the T20 World Cup. All-rounder Ryan Burl dismissed any doubts, confirming Raza is “100 per cent” fit despite taking a blow against the West Indies.
Raza had taken a blow during Zimbabwe’s previous outing against the West Indies, sparking speculation about his availability for the high-stakes encounter. But Burl made it clear that keeping Raza out of a big game—especially against India—was never really an option.
“Sikandar Raza is 100% playing. Good luck telling him that he’s not going to play against India. Yeah, he’s going to be playing,” Burl said at the pre-match press conference.
Zimbabwe face India in a crucial Group 1 Super 8 fixture at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday, with both sides desperate for a win after suffering defeats in their previous matches. A loss could severely dent semi-final hopes for either team.
Burl acknowledged the scale of the challenge, particularly playing India in front of a partisan home crowd, but pointed out that the pressure of expectations could weigh heavily on the hosts as well.
“Yeah, it is a must-win match for us, but it’s also a must-win game for India. There’s obviously a lot at stake here, being a World Cup game and if we are to progress to the semifinals, we both want to look at winning tomorrow’s game,” Burl said.
“Obviously, we don’t get to play India a lot, so it’s something that we really have been looking forward to. Playing India in India is a challenge in itself. They obviously got a home ground advantage, but the added pressure of both teams needing to win tomorrow’s game.
“Pressure does funny things to teams. And obviously it being a World Cup, there’s that added pressure as well. We hope to execute our process tomorrow,” he added.
Zimbabwe are banking on their bowling depth to counter India’s explosive batting unit led by captain Suryakumar Yadav. Burl underlined the importance of match-ups and tactical flexibility in Chennai’s conditions.
“We’re doing a lot of our homework. Obviously, India’s got that firepower where they go really hard in the power play and if they don’t lose wickets, they’ve got guys that can go hard throughout. We’ve obviously got a lot of options (in bowling) and that’s probably one of the advantages of the Zimbabwe lineup.
“We’ve got a left-arm seamer, right-arm seamer, a couple of leg-spinners, an off spinner, and a left-arm offie. So, we do have quite a lot of depth and I think it will probably just come down to what are the match-ups depending on the batters that are out there and, obviously, the combinations that we do look to go for,” he explained.
Reflecting on their heavy loss to the West Indies, Burl insisted the team has moved on and drawn valuable lessons from the setback.
“To be honest, I think we can only take positives from that defeat. It sounds weird, but we hadn’t really had a bad game until then. So there is massive learning in that.
“And in saying that, India obviously also had their bad game against South Africa. So we’re both looking to bounce back, and no better place than to do that tomorrow,” he said.
With Raza declared fully fit and the stakes at their highest, Zimbabwe head into Chennai believing they can turn pressure into opportunity against a host side equally determined to stay alive in the tournament.
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