Zimbabwe have suffered a major blow ahead of the T20I series opener against India. Their batter Milton Shumba has been ruled out of the series due to a right hamstring injury he sustained during the T20I against Bangladesh.
In Shumba's absence, Innocent Kaia has been added to the squad as replacement. 33-year-old Kaia hasn't played a T20I in two years. Interestingly, Kaia's previous T20I appearance was against India at Harare as well.
Last month, Kaia had scored a century in the Test against Bangladesh but wasn't at his best in the ODIs. The 33-year-old has played 19 T20Is so far, scoring 290 runs at an average of 15.26. He has a strike rate of 104.69. His only T20I half-century came against Afghanistan four years ago.
Zimbabwe’s updated T20I squad for India series -
Sikandar Raza (c), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Tanaka Chivanga, Ben Curran, Brad Evans, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Newman Nyamhuri, Tafadzwa Tsiga, Innocent Kaia.
Raza ready for challenge
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza doesn’t feel that India are favourites going into the series. The Shreyas Iyer-led India are yet to win a T20I since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 triumph. India lost the T20I series in Ireland and England. Raza believes that both India and Zimbabwe have a 50-50 per cent chance of winning the series.
Zimbabwe are yet to win a T20I series against India. The only time they were able to draw a T20I series against India was in 2015. The last time India toured Zimbabwe was in 2024 when the Shubman Gill-led side 4-1.
India’s squad for T20I series vs Zimbabwe -
Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (w), Tilak Varma, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Prabhsimran Singh, Harsh Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi.
Who will make his T20I debut?
The Indian side has four players who are yet to make their T20I debuts. Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Harsh Dubey and Prabhsimran Singh are yet to make their respective T20I debuts.