Image Credit- AFP
Jitesh Sharma, Harshit Rana, and B Sai Sudharsan have been selected for India’s 15-man team for the first two (of five) Twenty20 Internationals against Zimbabwe, which begin later this week. They will take the place of Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who will go to Zimbabwe for the final three games before returning to India together with the rest of the T20 World Cup winning team.
The winning T20 World Cup team was supposed to arrive in India on Monday, but Hurricane Beryl caused the airport in Barbados to close, delaying their arrival. Samson, Dube, and Jaiswal are anticipated to participate in an Indian felicitation ceremony that the BCCI would arrange.
Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed, who were on the World Cup reserve team, would probably go straight from the Caribbean to Harare to join the team. Shubman Gill, who was dismissed from India’s touring reserves at the end of the group stage, has been selected captain of the Zimbabwean squad. He will be joining the team straight from the United States, where he was on vacation.
After Surrey’s match against Essex ends on July 4, Sai Sudharsan, who made his debut for his country during the tour of South Africa in December, would probably join the team in Harare. Sai Sudharsan is currently playing for Surrey in Division 1 of the County Championship.
Jitesh views his call-up as something of a lifeline after his dismal IPL 2024 performance, in which he scored just 187 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 131.69, caused him to lose favour with the selectors.
Rana was a member of the winning Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 2024 Indian Premier League. This is his first call-up to the Indian team. Rana was a member of a fast bowler development programme at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy until the end of last month. He took 19 wickets at an average of 20.15, which tied him for second place with Andre Russell and put him only behind Varun Chakravarthy, who took 21 wickets.
The series kicks off on July 6, followed by matches on July 7, 10, 13 and 14. All matches will be played at the Harare Sports Club.