India announces opening pair for Zimbabwe series and starts new journey in T20Is: India captain Shubman Gill announced the new pair for the team ahead of the first T20 match for the Zimbabwe tour.
Days after India’s T20 World Cup 2024 win, a very different-looking team will play a five-match T20 series against Zimbabwe in Harare starting Saturday.
The Shubman Gill-led squad includes only three players from the main squad that played in the T20 World Cup – Sanju Samson, Shivam Dubey, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. All three players will not be available for the first two T20 matches of the series.
Additionally participating in the series are Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed, who were members of the Caribbean and USA reserve groups of players.
On the eve of the series, Gill confirmed that he will open the batting alongside Abhishek Sharma, who is set to make his debut for India after a stellar performance in the IPL.
“Abhishek Sharma will open with me and Ruturaj Gaikwad will bat at No.3,” Gill stated in the pre-match press conference. “It’s quite a different team from the one that played in the [T20] World Cup.
“There are a lot of young players in the team, including myself. So I think in terms of that, we just want to give the players experience and how the international, what it is like to play at the international level because a lot of the players haven’t played that many matches and some of the players haven’t even made their debut.
“So I think that is our aim for the series, to give them more international exposure and experience.” The series will make Gill’s captaincy debut for India. He has previously led the Gujarat Titans franchise in the IPL.”
The India squad for their T20I matches against Zimbabwe is as follows: 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 Probable Playing XI: Sai Sudarshan, Rituraj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel/Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan/Harshit Rana Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed
Also Read: IND vs ZIM: When and Where to Watch the Five-match India vs Zimbabwe T20I series in India?
Source: ICC
