Zimbabwe and India will battle it out in a five-match T20I series from July 6, with Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma and Harshit Rana joining the squad for the first two encounters instead of Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal who helped win the T20 World Cup.
Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal are also part of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup in West Indies and were select for the 5-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. However, since they are due to return back to India from Caribbean before catching a flight to Harare, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma and Harshit Rana will take their slots as temporary replacements for the first two matches.
“The Men’s Selection Committee has 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,” noted BCCI authorities.
“Originally slated to join the Zimbabwe-bound squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series starting Saturday, 6th July; however they will go through India with rest of ICC world cup winning Indian squad before leaving for Harare,” read another part of release.
It could probably be due to this fact that BCCI didn’t mention anything about but may be because of delayed return home by this team caused by a hurricane hitting Barbados.
The young second-string side led by Shubman Gill departed on Tuesday morning enroute Zimbabwe. The coach is VVS Laxman during this trip.
India’s squad for 1st & 2nd T20I against Zimbabwe: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma (Vice Captain), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande and Sai Sudharsan.
