The youthful Indian cricket squad, led by interim coach VVS Laxman, reached Zimbabwe to play a five-match T20I series beginning July 6. Shubman Gill will lead the Men in Blue after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chose to rest all big and senior players of India’s T20 World Cup-winning team. The BCCI has made three changes to India’s T20I roster for the five-match series. Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma, and Harshit Rana have been added to the squad for the first two matches, replacing Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, all of whom are still in Barbados.

The trio will first travel to India with the rest of the ICC T20 World Cup-winning Indian squad before heading to Harare. Samson, Dube, and Jaiswal were unable to fly out of Barbados earlier because the island nation’s airport was closed due to a hurricane. The unexpected circumstances have forced the BCCI to name replacements for the three players.

Pacer Khaleel Ahmed and batter Rinku Singh, who traveled as T20 World Cup reserves, are also in Barbados. Although the tandem is in the BCCI’s Zimbabwe series squad, no substitutes have been identified. Sudharsan is currently playing county cricket for Surrey at the Oval in London. The left-arm batter is scheduled to depart for Harare immediately.

The Zimbabwe series will mark a new era for India’s T20I team, as it prepares for life after Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja. All three announced their retirement from the shortest format of the game, following their World Cup triumph. This will be Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, and Tushar Deshpande’s first experience with international cricket. They were selected on the back of a great IPL 2024 performance.