Sanju Samson, India's backup wicketkeeper batter at the T20 World Cup, was named the vice-captain for the rest of the Zimbabwe T20 series as he returned to the line-up for the third T20I in Harare on Wednesday, July 10. Samson returned to India with the two other T20 World Cup members Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube, who were named in the squad for the Zimbabwe series and hence all of them missed the first two T20Is. The trio was named together in the XI for the third T20I.
The BCCI in its playing XI didn't reveal any vice-captain, however, the official team sheet during the match accessed by a few media persons saw Sanju Samson listed as wicketkeeper as well as the vice-captain. This is the first time Samson, who led Rajasthan Royals to the IPL 2022 final and the playoffs in 2024, has been made part of the leadership group of the senior men's team.
Samson, who batted at No 3 in the IPL for the Royals, was pushed to No 5 with India playing as many as four openers in the top four positions. Since Jaiswal came back, India's opening pair also saw a change with Abhishek Sharma, the centurion in the second T20I dropping to number three in the batting order.
As far as the match is concerned, India opted to bat first after winning the toss like in the second game and posted a competitive score of 182 runs on the board on a surface that was two-paced and was a bit dry with a few cracks. With the surface expected to get slow, Indian spinners will be key in the second innings.
India's playing XI against Zimbabwe for 3rd T20I: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill (c), Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson (wk/vc), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed
