Team India players have reached Zimbabwe for the upcoming five-match T20I series starting from July 6. The selectors have named a second-string squad for this series with the majority of the T20 World Cup bound players set to rest. Only three players from the main squad - Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal - are part of the squad but even they are likely to miss the first two T20Is as the winning squad is expected to reach New Delhi in the wee hours on Thursday (July 4).
Zimbabwe Cricket shared the video of the players reaching the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and the visitors are expected to have their first training session on Thursday (July 4), 48 hours before the first T20I. Interestingly, the captain for this series, Shubman Gill had already reached Zimbabwe before his teammates directly from New York.
VVS Laxman is stepping up as the heads coach for this series against Zimbabwe with Rahul Dravid's tenure at the helm ending with the T20 World Cup. Jay Shah has already confirmed that the new head coach will be appointed soon and his first assignment will be the tour of Sri Lanka later this month.
As far as India's Zimbabwe tour is concerned, the team is filled with youngsters with most of the players picked based on IPL performances. Moreover, the likes of Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma are expected to make their India debuts in this series who will be looking forward to making an impact. The players have a great chance to stake claim for places with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja announcing retirement from the shortest format at the end of World Cup winning campaign last month.
India squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal (from 3rd T20I), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK) (from 3rd T20I), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube (from 3rd T20I), Harshit Rana (for first two T20Is), Jitesh Sharma (for first two T20Is), Sai Sudharsan (for first two T20Is)
