It is the dawn of a new era in India's T20 history with the seniors bidding goodbye to the format following the second T20 World Cup triumph a few days ago in Barbados. With the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja hanging their boots, there is a vacancy for spots in the Indian team and hence a completely new team has been selected for the Zimbabwe series, set to kick off in Harare on Saturday, July 6. Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube are the only members of the T20 World Cup squad but they will miss the first three T20Is.
Here's the full list of changes in India's squad for the Zimbabwe T20 series-
IN:
The three members of the T20 World Cup squad are set to arrive a bit late after the celebrations at home. Apart from those three, the current squad of the 15 members for the first two T20Is is completely different from the one that played in the World Cup. Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Tushar Deshpande and Harshit Rana have received their maiden call-ups to the Indian T20I side and three of them are expected to debut for India in the series opener on Saturday, July 6. The other inclusions are Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan - four players who were part of the reserves at the T20 World Cup but didn't make the main squad.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Sai Sudharsan and Jitesh Sharma are the other inclusions in India's T20 squad for the Zimbabwe series. A few of them have played together when the seniors have missed out and will now play regularly and have a chance to build towards the 2026 T20 World Cup.
OUT:
Basically the whole T20 World Cup squad? Yes, obviously apart from the trio of Samson, Jaiswal and Dube. Yuzvendra Chahal didn't play a game in the T20 World Cup squad and it seems it may have been his last in the format for India. Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja have retired while the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh all have been rested. Similarly, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav too have been rested after a long season with the IPL and T20 World Cup back-to-back.
India's squad for Zimbabwe
1st and 2nd T20Is: 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
3rd, 4th and 5th T20Is: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande
