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\u2019s batting unit has found spin bowling difficult to negotiate in the tournament \u2013 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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cFirst 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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cWe 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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt'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,\u201d said Burl in the pre-match press conference.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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. \u201cSikandar 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.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Burl has two wickets from four outings in the ongoing T20 World Cup and said he\u2019s aware of the importance of Thursday\u2019s clash for both teams. \u201cIt is a must win match for us, but it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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. \u201cSikandar 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.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cBut 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,\u201d he added. <\/p>\r\n\r\n