Shubman Gill to lead India on Zimbabwe tour: Details here
What's the story
In a major development, Shubman Gill has been named India's captain for the upcoming five-match T20I series in Zimbabwe, starting July 6.
The Ajit Agarkar-led Men's Selection Committee announced the full squad on June 24.
The new-look squad excludes senior players Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya among others, while Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Reddy have earned call-ups.
Twitter Post
India's T20I squad for Zimbabwe series
Squad: Ꮪhubman 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.#TeamIndia | #ZIMvIND
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 24, 2024
Call-ups
Rewards for these players
Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Nitish Reddy, Tushar Deshpande, and Dhruv Jurel have been rewarded for the incredible IPL 2024 run.
Abhishek made waves with an uncanny strike-rate of 204.21, while Riyan finished with the third-most runs (573 at 52.09).
Reddy struck at 142.92 and bowled crucial spells with his medium-pace.
While Deshpande took 17 wickets, wicket-keeper Jurel has already played for India's Test side.
Players
What about the senior players?
The key members of India's ICC T20 World Cup 2024 side, including Rohit, Kohli, Hardik, Pant, Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Kuldeep Yadav have been either rested or excluded.
Interestingly, Hardik led the T20I side for over a year before the Afghanistan series in January.
Rohit and Kohli didn't feature in the format following the 2022 T20 WC semi-final. They returned for the Afghanistan series.
Schedule
Harare Sports Club to host all five T20Is
A BCCI media release stated that "India will visit Harare in the first week of July to participate in a five-match T20I series against the hosts."
The five T20Is will be held on July 6, 7, 10, 13, and 14, with the Harare Sports Club playing host to these games.
Notably, all five T20Is will begin at 4:30pm IST.
Captaincy
Gill's maiden stint as captain
Gill is set to lead India for the first time in international cricket.
He led Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024 as the side finished eighth. He finished with 426 runs from 12 games at a strike-rate of 147.40 (one century).
Notably, Gill was added in the reserves for India's T20 World Cup squad.
He currently owns 335 runs from 14 T20Is.