Zimbabwe all-rounder Ryan Burl confident as India clash looms: ‘Pressure does funny things’

NEW DELHI: Zimbabwe all-rounder Ryan Burl acknowledged the magnitude of the challenge of facing India at home but expressed hope that the pressure of a high stakes game in front of a passionate crowd could weigh on Suryakumar Yadav’s side on Thursday.

The Group 1 Super Eights clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is a must win contest for both teams after India and Zimbabwe suffered defeats to South Africa and West Indies respectively.

Pressure of a must win contest

“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 in the pre-match press conference.

“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.

Bowling depth key against India

Burl felt Zimbabwe’s varied bowling attack could hold them in good stead against a power packed Indian batting line up.

“We're doing a lot of our homework. Obviously, India's got that firepower where they obviously 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 left-arm seamer, right-arm seamer, we've got a couple of leg-spinners, we've got an off spinner, we've got 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 added.

Learning from heavy defeat

The all rounder said the crushing loss to West Indies has not dented their belief.

“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.

Burl also confirmed that skipper Sikandar Raza is fit despite taking a blow in the previous match.

“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,” he added.

(With PTI Inputs)