Shubman Gill has been named captain of India's T20I squad for the five-match series starting from July 6 in Zimbabwe. Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Riyan Parag and Tushar Deshpande have all been called up to the Indian national team for the first time after their impressive performances in IPL 2024.
Dhruv Julel has also been selected as the second wicketkeeper and has been called up to the T20I squad for the first time after making his Test debut against England earlier this year.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson are the only two players from India's T20 World Cup squad to tour Zimbabwe. All other World Cup players have been given leave after the tournament ended on June 29.
Zimbabwe also includes Rinku Singh, Avesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed, another touring reserve alongside Gill in India's T20 World Cup squad. The team is scheduled to leave for Zimbabwe on July 1, with VVS Laxman taking over as head coach in the interim as Rahul Dravid's tenure ends with the T20 World Cup.
Tilak Verma is not part of the squad having played 16 T20 international matches since making his debut in August last year. ESPNcricinfo has learnt that Tilak injured two fingers on his left hand before Mumbai Indians' final league match of IPL 2024 and is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the NCA in Bangalore. He played in India's bilateral series against Afghanistan in January and also enjoyed a successful IPL season with Mumbai, scoring 416 runs at a strike rate of 149.64.
Abhishek's inclusion in the squad comes after a successful IPL 2024 with Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he scored 484 runs at a strike rate of 204.21 and hit a season-high 42 sixes. He also played a key role in Punjab winning Syed Mushtaq Ali's maiden title in November, scoring 485 runs as an opener at a strike rate of 192.46.
In his sixth IPL season, Parag has had a fantastic year for Rajasthan Royals, scoring almost as many runs in IPL 2024 as he had in the previous five seasons. Mandated to bat at number four, Parag has scored 40+ runs in seven of his 14 innings. Only Virat Kohli has scored 40+ runs this season (9 runs). Parag's 573 runs in 16 innings put him third on the list of most runs scored, behind Kohli (741 runs) and Gaikwad (583 runs).
Reddy, a 21-year-old seam-bowling all-rounder, is said to have impressed the selectors with his mettle among the Sunrisers' top order. In IPL 2024, he scored 303 runs at a strike rate of 142.92 with three wickets in 13.1 overs. Reddy, along with Abhishek and Parag, was part of BCCI's target group of young players who came under NCA surveillance last year.
Deshpande was Chennai Super Kings' leading wicket-taker in IPL 2024 with 17 wickets at an economy rate of 8.83.
India will play five T20I matches against Zimbabwe on July 6, 7, 10, 13 and 14 in Harare.
India's squad for the T20I series in Zimbabwe: Arhabman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Julel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.
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