Zimbabwe’s veteran wicketkeeper-batter Brendan Taylor has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury, team captain Sikandar Raza confirmed today. The announcement came ahead of Zimbabwe’s game against Australia in Colombo, which the team went on to win. Top-order batter Ben Curran has been called up as Taylor’s replacement.
Taylor, 40, suffered the injury during Zimbabwe’s opening match against Oman, where he scored 31 off 30 balls before retiring hurt. He had also contributed with three catches behind the stumps. With at least two more tournament matches remaining, Zimbabwe opted to bring in Curran, who has never played T20 internationals. Curran has centuries in both Tests and ODIs and, in 40 T20 innings, has scored 872 runs at a strike rate of 126.01, with a best of 71.
For the match against Australia, Tadiwanashe Marumani took over the wicketkeeping duties, while all-rounder Tony Munyonga was added to the playing XI in place of Taylor. Taylor’s fitness had been in doubt for this game, and the team management had planned to rest him if needed, hoping he could recover for the remaining fixtures.
Taylor returned to international cricket in July 2025 after a three-and-a-half-year ban for breaching the ICC’s anti-corruption code. Since his sanction ended on July 25, he has played two Tests, two ODIs, and 14 T20Is, scoring 282 runs, including a 123-run innings against Botswana in the T20 World Cup qualifiers in September 2025.
