BCCI has made a few changes to the India squad for the first two T20Is against Zimbabwe. The players from the T20 World Cup winning squad are still stuck in Barbados due to Hurricane Beryl and they are expected to reach New Delhi by 8 PM IST on July 3. Three players from the main squad - Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal will travel to India first with the team and then depart for Harare, the date for which is not confirmed by the BCCI yet.
Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma and Harshit Rana has been named replacement for the three players for the first two matches of the five-match series. Jitesh Sharma was part of the Indian team set up even before the Indian Premier League (IPL) but was not picked for the T20 World Cup with Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson being preferred. Moreover, his performance in IPL 2024 was not great and at one stage, was dropped by the Punjab Kings as well.
As for Sai Sudharsan and Harshit Rana, both have been rewarded for their exceptional show in IPL this year. The latter picked up 19 wickets in just 11 innings for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) displaying great character in pressure game. In fact, many reckoned that Rana should've picked in the squad earlier itself for the entire series against Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Sudharsan was one of the only few positives for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024 scoring 527 runs in 12 matches at an average of 47.9 and a strike rate of 141.28.
Interestingly, two other players - Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed - are with the World Cup winning squad at the moment. They were among the reserves and will be reaching India along with the World Cup squad itself. But no replacements have been named for them. They are also unlikely to reach in time and might leave for Zimbabwe alongside Samson, Jaiswal and Dube. This means, India will play the first two T20Is with only 13 players
India’s squad for 1st & 2nd T20I against Zimbabwe: Shubman Gill (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Harshit Rana
