India Squad For Zimbabwe T20Is: Shubman Gill To Lead Young Team Filled With IPL 2024 Stars

Four players who had a brilliant IPL 2024 — Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Nitish Reddy and Tushar Deshpande — have earned maiden call-ups to the Indian side.

Another new name that has earned maiden call-up in the T20I side is wicket-keeper batter Dhruv Jurel who had impressed in his debut Test series against England at home earlier this year. Jurel did not get much chance for Rajasthan Royals this year but had a good IPL in 2023 and followed it up by performing in his debut Test series.

Riyan Parag was the third highest scorer of IPL 2024 despite batting at number four for Rajasthan Royals. Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma also had a sensational IPL where the left-hander hit 42 sixes, the highest in the season.

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Nitish Reddy, the emerging player of the season, impressed with the bat and showed decent skills with ball to join the rare list of pace-bowling all-round options in the Indian set-up.

Tushar Deshpande picked 17 wickets in the season for Chennai Super Kings and showed that he had improved his control as well to end up with an economy of 8.83.

Other names in the squad are all those who have been around the national set-up. Among batters, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been selected along with skipper Gill. Apart from Jurel, the team also has Sanju Samson as wicket-keeping option.

Ravi Bishnoi is the only specialist spinner in the squad but he will have get the assistance of Washington Sundar who will also be on the plane to Zimbabwe.

Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar join Deshpande to form the pace quartet.

The five-match T20I series begins from June 6 and goes on till June 14 with all matches in Harare. This will be the first time since 2016 that the Indian team will be touring Zimbabwe for a T20I series.

India’s squad for T20I series against Zimbabwe: ?hubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.