(AP Photo)
As the Indian team celebrates their T20 World Cup victory in Mumbai, a young Indian squad is diligently preparing for the upcoming five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.
Scheduled to start later this week, the series features a predominantly fresh lineup, with most World Cup squad members rested. Shubman Gill has been appointed captain for the T20I series. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, and Shivam Dube, who were part of the World Cup squad, are included in the Zimbabwe series team.
However, due to their late return from Barbados, Jaiswal, Samson, and Dube will miss the first two games and have been replaced by Sai Sudharsan, Harshit Rana, and Jitesh Sharma. They are expected to join the team for the last three matches.
This series presents an opportunity for several players to establish themselves in international cricket. The squad includes four uncapped players: Abhishek Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel. Jurel is the only one among them who has previous international experience, having featured in the Test series against England earlier this year.
Looking ahead to the series, former India wicketkeeper and selector Saba Karim expressed his preference for Abhishek Sharma to open the innings alongside either Gill or Ruturaj Gaikwad. Karim also suggested Gill could potentially bat at number three during the series.
“Personally, I’d love to see Abhishek open with either Shubman or Ruturaj, Shubman can come to bat at one down as well. I’m not sure at this stage when Sanju Samson will join the side, he may join later.
“Till then, I’d love to see this combination and when Yashasvi Jaiswal and Samson are there then you imagine they will take the opening slot and number 3 position respectively,” Karim told SportsNow.
Saba Karim commented on the exclusion of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the Indian squad for the Zimbabwe series. Both players, who had previously been out of favor with the selectors earlier this year, were not included despite expectations, especially for Iyer, who led Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL earlier this year.
Karim explained that the selectors opted to send young players on the Zimbabwe tour, hence the decision to overlook Kishan and Iyer once again. However, he expressed confidence that both players have the ability to earn their spots back in the team in the future.
“They will get many opportunities because if you look at the size of the team that has gone to Zimbabwe in the past several years, I remember even during our term, this is actually not a second-string side.
“What the Indian selectors look at is to give opportunities to youngsters who have yet to play international cricket, and they try and balance it with some cricketers,” said Karim.
“I think that’s what the selectors have done this time around, so Ishan’s name and Shreyas not being there doesn’t mean they will not get opportunities going forward. There are a number of bilateral engagements coming up in white ball cricket and I’m sure both these cricketers, we will see more of them in some of the upcoming series,” he added.
The upcoming series between India and Zimbabwe is set to commence on July 6th. All five matches will take place in Harare.
