Colombo, Feb 13 (IANS) Zimbabwe have been dealt a major blow ahead of their second match of the T20 World Cup 2026 against Australia at the R. Premadasa Stadium, with captain Sikandar Raza confirming that wicketkeeper-batter Brendan Taylor has been ruled out of the entire tournament due to injury.
Speaking after losing the toss, Raza informed about the change in the team due to injury. He said, “Brendan Taylor picked up an injury, and he’s been ruled out of the competition.” Tony Munyonga is back in the team in place of Taylor and will do the wicketkeeping in the match.
Taylor was in good form and played an amazing innings against Oman, which helped the team register an easy win. He came in at a time when Zimbabwe had lost back-to-back wickets, and the experienced batter then forged a 68-run partnership with Brian Bennett to take the team close to victory.
However, he picked up a hamstring while batting and got retired hurt after scoring 31 runs in the match. He was seen limping as he made his way to the pavilion.
Taylor is the most experienced player in Zimbabwe’s squad and was also part of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. He has played 59 T20Is for the team and has scored 1,216 runs in his 20-year-long career so far. Taylor has also scored a century and six half-centuries in the format.
He has been delivering consistent performances since his return to the side after a four-year gap in 2025. He played 13 matches last year and scored 251 runs for the team, which included his maiden T20I century.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe are back in the T20 World Cup fold after missing the last edition played in 2024. They qualified after winning all their matches in the African qualifiers, and Sikandar Raza’s team will be eyeing their first trophy in the tournament.
–IANS
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