India coach Gautam Gambhir, left, Jasprit Bumrah during a training session ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 cricket match between India and Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Zimbabwe all-rounder Ryan Burl said his team is aware of the task ahead of India but believes the pressure to win a T20 World Cup match could affect the hosts when the two sides meet on Thursday.The Super Eights Group 1 match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is crucial for both teams after India lost to South Africa and Zimbabwe went down to the West Indies.
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“Yes, it’s a must-win game for us, but it’s also a must-win game for India. Obviously, there’s a lot at stake because it’s a World Cup game and if we’re going to the semi-finals, we both want to look to win tomorrow’s game,” Burl said at the pre-match press conference.“Obviously we don’t play India a lot so it’s something we’ve been really looking forward to. Playing India in India is a challenge in itself. They’ve obviously got the home ground advantage but the increased pressure from both teams needs to win tomorrow’s game.”“Pressure does funny things to teams. And with it being the World Cup, there’s added pressure. We hope to do our process tomorrow,” he added.Burl said Zimbabwe’s bowling options could help them counter India’s batting.“We do a lot of homework. Obviously India have the firepower to go really hard in the power play obviously and if they don’t lose wickets they have guys who can go hard all the way through. Obviously we have a lot of options (in bowling) and that’s probably one of the strengths of the Zimbabwe line-up.”“We’ve got a left-arm seamer, a right-arm seamer, we’ve got a couple of leg-spinners, we’ve got a spinner, we’ve got a left-arm offie. So we’ve got quite a lot of depth and I think it’s probably just going to be what the matchups are like depending on the batsmen that’s out there and obviously we’re looking for the combinations we’re looking for.”The all-rounder said the team has moved on from the loss to the West Indies.“To be honest, I think we can only take positives from that defeat. It sounds weird, but we really hadn’t had a bad game up until that point. So there’s a huge learning curve.”“And when I say that, obviously India also had a bad game against South Africa. So we’re both trying to bounce back and there’s no better place to do that than tomorrow,” he said.Burl also confirmed that captain Sikandar Raza is fit despite picking up a knock in the previous match against West Indies.“Sikandar Raza is playing 100%. Good luck when I told him that he will not play against India. Yes, he will play,” he added.
