India vs Zimbabwe 2024: BCCI Announces Squad For Five Match T20I Series; Shubman Gill Named Captain
The first India vs Zimbabwe T20I will be played on July 6 at the Harare Sports Club from 4:30 PM IST onwards.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced the squad for India's upcoming tour of Zimbabwe. The Indian team will go to Harare in the first week of July to participate in a 5-match T20I series against the hosts.
Shuman Gill will lead a young team in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who has retired from the T20Is. Other senior players like Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, who were part of the T20 World Cup winning squad, have also been rested ahead of a gruelling season.
The first India vs Zimbabwe T20I will be played on July 6 at the Harare Sports Club from 4:30 PM IST onwards.
Youngsters Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma have been rewarded for their exploits in the last IPL with maiden India call-ups for this series.
Besides Parag and Abhishek, other IPL performers boarding the flight to Zimbabwe are Tushar Deshpande, Avesh Khan and Rinku Singh among others.
The Men's Selection Committee on Tuesday named Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma and Harshit Rana as replacements for Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal for the first two T20Is against Zimbabwe.
Originally slated to join the Zimbabwe-bound squad for the upcoming series starting July 6, the trio will travel to India first with the rest of the ICC T20 World Cup-winning Indian squad before departing for Harare, the BCCI said in a statement.
India's Squad For Zimbabwe Series (1st & 2nd T20I)
Shubman Gill (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (Wk), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma (Wk), Harshit Rana.
India's Squad For Zimbabwe Series (3rd, 4th & 5th T20I)
Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (Wk), Dhruv Jurel (Wk), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube.
According to a report by news agency PTI, VVS Laxman and his support staff at the National Cricket Academy might accompany the Indian team to Zimbabwe for the five-match T20I series while Gautam Gambhir is expected to start his tenure as coach from the Sri Lanka tour.
Gambhir is currently the favourite to become the head coach of the senior men's team, pipping former women's team head coach WV Raman. The announcement is a mere formality and might happen in the next few days.
"There is a possibility that Laxman along with some of the NCA coaches will travel with the new look squad to Zimbabwe. Laxman and the NCA team has always filled up whenever Rahul Dravid and the first team coaches have been taken periodic breaks during their stint," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
(With PTI inputs)
