After winning the T20 World Cup, team India led by Shubman Gill will face Zimbabwe for the five-match T20I series scheduled to start from July 6. Senior players including Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav have been rested for the series. All the matches will take place in Harare. A new-look team India has been announced for the Zimbabwe series, the cricket board just added three players from the World Cup squad and they will even miss the first two matches.
This upcoming series against Zimbabwe is a golden chance for India youngsters to cement their permanent spot in the T20I team after as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from the shortest format of the game. Here is the list of six Indian Premier League (IPL) who are set to make their T20I debut for India against Zimbabwe.
Abhishek Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma opener was in red-hot form in the recently concluded season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The left-handed batter smashed most sixes (41) in the last season of the cash-rich league. He scored 484 runs in 16 matches with a strike rate of 204.21. The Amritsar-born cricketer will surely make his T20I debut for India in the upcoming series.
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Riyan Parag
Rajasthan Royals' all-rounder Riyan Parag is in the form of his life as he scored 573 runs in his 16 IPL outings. He finished the season as the third-highest run-getter. It would be tough for Shubman Gill to ignore a talent like Riyan in the upcoming series against Zimbabwe. He would be the ideal pick for India considering his contribution with the ball and bat in the middle order.
Dhruv Jurel
In the absence of Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan, Dhurv Jurel will be seen keeping wickets for India for the first time in a T20I match against Zimbabwe. The wicketkeeper batter has already made his India debut, he featured in the three Tests for India against England earlier this year.
Tushar Deshpande
IPL star Tushar Deshpande has impressed everyone with his bowling performance for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and that is the reason the pacer earned a place in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming five-match series against Zimbabwe. He also scored a century in the Ranji Trophy 2023-24 quarterfinal for Mumbai against Baroda. The 29-year-old pacer will be part of the five-man pace attack led by Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar.
Sai Sudharsan
Gujarat Titans opener Sai Sudharsan is also in the lethal form he scored 527 runs in 12 matches of IPL 2024 for the Gujarat Titans (GT). He has already featured for India in an ODI match against South Africa in December 2023. He was earlier ignored in the T20I squad against Zimbabwe but was later added to the squad for the first two matches. However, he will face tough competition from Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad for the opener’s role.
Harshit Rana
Harshit Rana will be the bowler to watch out for in the Zimbabwe series considering his performance in the IPL 2024. He picked up 19 wickets in 13 matches for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2024. He was one of the reasons behind the Shreyas Iyer-led side's title win.
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