India vs Zimbabwe: I see myself in Rishabh Pant; no reason why we can't beat India, says all-rounder Ryan Burl

A 3-0 whitewash of the hosts is of course very much on the cards, but Zimbabwe all-rounder Ryan Burl is confident that the World No. 10 ranked ODI team can upset India. Craig Ervine, Zimbabwe's regular captain, will miss the series due to a hamstring injury. In his absence, Regis Chakabva, who captained Zimbabwe to a 2-1 ODI series triumph recently against Bangladesh, will lead the side again. With the Zimbabwe vs India series set to kick off on Thursday (August 18), TimesofIndia.com caught up with 28 year old Zimbabwe all-rounder Ryan Burl, who is part of the current squad that will take on the Men in Blue, to talk about the series and more.

Image credit: Ryan Burl's Twitter handleBurl, a left arm middle order batter and leg-break bowler, has so far played 3 Tests, 28 ODIs and 47 T20Is for Zimbabwe. After a series win at home vs Bangladesh, Zimbabwe all set now to play a 3-match ODI series vs India. What are the team's plans? The team plans are going to be pretty much the same as (those of) the last couple of months. We're going to express ourselves as much as possible. If you're a batter, your plan is to score as many runs as possible as quickly as possible. And if you are a bowler, your plan is to go for as few runs as possible. We will try to keep things as simple as possible. Zimbabwe last won an ODI series vs India way back in 1996-97 at home, the team's only ODI series win against the Men in Blue. For you and your team, how important is this upcoming series? It's massively important. First of all, we don't really get a chance to play India often. So, when you do you get these opportunities, you have to kind of put your hand up and make the most of it. And second of all, it's opportunities like this (of playing)