Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif reckons Zimbabwe must be sharpening their bats and swords ahead of the three-match T20I series against India. Kaif admitted that Indian cricket is currently in a bad state after the T20I series loss against Ireland.

Furthermore, the Men in Blue suffered a 0-4 T20I series loss against England and then suffered a 1-2 series loss in the ODI series against Harry Brook’s team.

India has picked an inexperienced side for the Zimbabwe tour and especially the bowling line-up lacks experience at the top level.

“At this time, Zimbabwe must be sharpening their bats and swords because the state in which Indian cricket is in, they will be thinking, ‘We have a chance’. The situation we are in is really very bad. You have lost all the T20Is, won one ODI, and lost that series as well. So, the overall morale is down,” Kaif said on Cricbuzz.

“We had defeated Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 match in Chennai, but the form and the state we are in, Zimbabwe will certainly fancy their chances now of defeating India,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan said this is a good opportunity to give opportunities to new players.

“Who you are playing against is a matter of later, what matters is how you approach these games. We have seen it before as well that in T20 format, everyone has a good opportunity. This is a good opportunity to try out some new players. There has hardly been a break between these series, so in that respect, these youngsters should definitely take advantage of the opportunity,” Zaheer Khan said.

The first T20I between India and Zimbabwe will be played at Harare on Thursday.