Zimbabwe skipper and star all-rounder Sikandar Raza suffered a finger injury while bowling during their first Super 8s match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on Monday against the West Indies in Mumbai.
After Raza got injured there were concerns regarding his availability for the must-win match against India in Chennai on Thursday. But on the eve of the first-ever T20I match between India and Zimbabwe in India, Zimbabwe all-rounder Ryan Burl has shared a big update on Raza’s availability.
While speaking to reporters in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Burl stated that Raza will 100% play against India at Chepauk.
“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.
In the ongoing shortest-format mega-event, Zimbabwe have already defeated the likes of Australia and Sri Lanka, and on Thursday they would like to get the better of India as well.
During the presser when Burl was asked how he fancy Zimbabwe’s chances in the match against India, he stated that it is a must-win match for Zimbabwe, but it is a must-win match for India as well, and with a semi-final place at stake, his team will look to grab the opportunity with both hands.
“It is a must-win match for us (Zimbabwe). 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,” he said.
“So I think we are both excited. 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,” he added.
Zimbabwe have only played one T20I match in India so far, and in that fixture, they suffered a humiliating defeat by 107 runs against the West Indies. When asked about challenges of playing against India in India, Burl said, “Playing India in India is a challenge in itself. They obviously got a home ground advantage, but there is 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. So yeah, we’ve obviously got our processes that we want to go through. And hopefully we can execute those tomorrow,” he said.
