India vs Zimbabwe T20 Series: Shubman Gill Leads New Team in Harare

World champions India will take on hosts Zimbabwe in a five-match T20 cricket series at the Harare Sports Club starting Saturday. This marks India’s first bilateral series in Zimbabwe since 2016. All matches will begin at 4:30 PM IST and will be available for live streaming and telecast in India.

New-Look Indian Team

The Indian team, recently crowned T20 World Cup champions, will feature new faces after the retirement of stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja. Key players like Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, and Jasprit Bumrah will also be absent.

Shubman Gill will lead the team, which includes Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, and Ravi Bishnoi. IPL 2024’s top six-hitter Abhishek Sharma, along with Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, and Tushar Deshpande, could make their T20 debuts.

Zimbabwe’s Recent Performance

Zimbabwe enters the series after a 4-1 loss to Bangladesh in May and did not qualify for the T20 World Cup. In T20 internationals, India has won six out of eight matches against Zimbabwe, with Zimbabwe’s two victories occurring in Harare.

Squad Changes

Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, and Yashasvi Jaiswal will miss the first two matches. Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma, and Harshit Rana have been added to India’s 15-member squad for these games. Nitish Kumar Reddy, initially called up, was sidelined due to injury.

The two teams last met in the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Group B, where India won by 71 runs, thanks to Suryakumar Yadav’s unbeaten 25-ball 61.