Chennai: Zimbabwe batting all-rounder Ryan Burl said his side has prepared thoroughly for their Super Eights clash against India, to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday, adding that they are aware of India’s recent struggles against spinners in the competition.
Both India, the defending champions, and Zimbabwe will enter the crunch clash with an aim to emerge victorious and keep their slim semi-final hopes alive. India’s batting unit has found spin bowling difficult to negotiate in the tournament – losing 19 wickets to the tweakers with a run rate of 7.5 and an average of just 18.2, the lowest among the Super Eights sides.
The vulnerability has been most pronounced against off-spin in the powerplay, where India have lost four wickets to that type of bowling. With Zimbabwe having the likes of Burl, captain Sikandar Raza and Graeme Cremer handling the spin bowling department, the trio are primed to challenge the wobbly Indian batting order.
“First of all, thank you for acknowledging that Zimbabwe’s got some quality spinners. That’s obviously a nice compliment and we’re doing a lot of our homework. It’s not that We’re doing more or less homework just because it’s India.
“We take each game as it comes. I won’t give away too many secrets how we’re going to approach tomorrow, but yeah, obviously what you have said is spot on and it is something that we are aware of, taken into account, and we would be silly to ignore it going into tomorrow’s game.
“It’s also about the match-ups – what are their and our strengths and how can we exploit maybe any small little advantages that we have in our favour. So, it’s something that we do have to take into account,” said Burl in the pre-match press conference.
He also confirmed that Raza, who had a hand injury scare during the match against West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, is fit to play against India. “Sikandar Raza is 100% playing. Good luck telling him that he’s not going to play against India and yes, he’s going to be playing.”
Burl has two wickets from four outings in the ongoing T20 World Cup and said he’s aware of the importance of Thursday’s clash for both teams. “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 semi-finals, we both want to look at winning tomorrow’s game.
“So we are excited and obviously we don’t get to play India a lot, so it’s something that we really have been looking forward to and we will grab the opportunity with both hands. 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, and pressure does funny things to teams. Obviously it being a World Cup, there’s that added pressure as well. So we’ve obviously got our processes that we want to go through. And hopefully we can execute those tomorrow,” he added.
(IANS)
