Zimbabwe aiming to surprise India with bowling variety

Zimbabwe were blown away by West Indies' power-hitters at the Wankhede, but the variety in their attack has given them cause for optimism against India, according to allrounder Ryan Burl.

With Richard Ngarava fit again, Zimbabwe have three tall fast bowlers, with Blessing Muzarabani leading the line. They also have almost every variety of spin in their squad - Graeme Cremer (legspin), Sikandar Raza (offspin and mystery spin) and Wellington Masakadza (left-arm fingerspin) - as their team management weighs up the options on a black-soil surface in Chennai on Thursday.

"We've obviously got a lot of options and that's probably one of the advantages of the Zimbabwe line-up," Burl said on the eve of Zimbabwe's second Super Eight fixture in the 2026 T20 World Cup. "We've got a left-arm seamer, a right-arm seamer, we've got a couple of legspinners, we've got an offspinner, 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 at the time and obviously the combinations that we do look to go for."

While the presence of a number of left-handers in India's line-up might keep Wellington on the bench, Raza who can bowl all-sorts spin, including offbreaks and the carrom ball, might have a role to play with the new ball against the left-hand pair of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan.

Raza had copped a blow on his finger while attempting a return catch against West Indies and spent some time off the field during that game, but has been declared fit for the clash against India. On the eve of the game, Raza both bowled and batted at the nets without apparent discomfort.

Irrespective of the conditions, Muzarabani has posed a threat to batters in this T20 World Cup with his high release point and ability to generate extra bounce. Even at the Wankhede where Zimbabwe conceded 254, Muzarabani challenged the West Indies batters with his hit-the-deck hustle and came away with 4-0-42-2. It extended his wickets tally to 11 in four innings. Only USA's Shadley van Schalkwyk has more wickets than Muzarabani in this tournament.

"I mean being 6 foot 9 [inches] does help," Burl said of Muzarabani. "I have to give a lot more credit to Blessing than he has received because he's been out for about four to six months prior to this tournament [with a back injury]. He obviously had a lot of doubts coming in with his own body and how he was feeling and stuff like that. The success that he has had with the ball has been amazing.

"It's not something that has only just come about now. He has been doing this in international cricket previously. He's obviously someone that we're really happy having in our squad. He's one of those bowlers that's obviously 6'9", and he does kind of come a little bit from beyond the perpendicular. So, jagging the ball back into the righties and across the lefties with that steep bounce does propose quite a lot of a challenge for the batters. So, I'm a lot happier knowing that he's on my team and not on the opposition (laughs)."

Burl said exposure to playing against top oppositions in recent times has contributed to Zimbabwe's success in this T20 World Cup. Though not part of the World Test Championship, Zimbabwe played only one Test fewer than Australia in 2025 and also beat Sri Lanka in two T20Is.

"I think obviously playing high-quality opponents regularly, as well as having a very good bunch of players buying into what I would like to believe a good blueprint and a good process," Burl said. "But obviously, you still got to execute on the day. So, I think it's a combination of everything put together and obviously now reaping the rewards."

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