While the Indian team is currently celebrating the T20 World Cup win in Mumbai, a young Indian team is busy preparing for the upcoming five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.
The series will begin later this week. The selectors have rested most of the players who were in the World Cup squad and named a young squad for the series. Shubman Gill has been named as the captain for the T20I series. From the T20 World Cup squad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube were named in the squad for the Zimbabwe series.
However, they will not be able to play the first two matches as they arrived late from Barbados and were replaced by Sai Sudharsan, Harshit Rana and Jitesh Sharma. They will be available for the last three matches.
The series will offer several players a chance to make their mark in international cricket. As many as four players who have not played in international matches have been named in the squad. Abhishek Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel are yet to play a T20I and can make their debut in the upcoming series. Of the four, only Jurel has experience in international cricket so far, having played in the Test series against England earlier this year.
And ahead of the series, former India wicketkeeper and coach Saba Karim has said that he would like to see Abhishek open the innings with Gill or Ruturaj Gaikwad. Karim said that Gill can also bat at number three.
“Personally, I would love to see Abhishek open with Shubman or Ruturaj, Shubman can also come to bat with one less bat. I am not sure at this stage when Sanju Samson will join the team, he may join later.
“Till then, I would love to see this combination and when Yashasvi Jaiswal and Samson are there, then you imagine they will occupy the opening slot and the No. 3 position respectively,” Karim told SportsNow.
Saba Karim on Ishan and Iyer’s absence:
Saba Karim also shared his views on the absence of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the Indian squad for the Zimbabwe series. Both players fell out of favour with the selectors earlier this year but were expected to call off the Zimbabwe tour, especially Iyer who led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL in May.
However, the selectors have once again ignored both of them. Karim said that the selectors took that decision because they wanted to send youngsters on the tour. He also backed Iyer and Kishan to get a chance to regain their place in the team.
“They will have a lot of opportunities because if you look at the size of the team that has gone to Zimbabwe in recent years, I remember that even during our tenure, this is not really a second-rate team.
“What the Indian selectors are looking for is to give opportunities to youngsters who have not yet played international cricket, and they are trying to balance that with some cricketers,” Karim said.
“I think that’s what the selectors have done this time, so Ishan’s name and Shreyas’ absence doesn’t mean they won’t get opportunities in the future. There are a number of bilateral engagements coming up in white-ball cricket and I’m sure we’ll see more of these two cricketers in some of the upcoming series,” he added.
The India-Zimbabwe series is scheduled to begin on July 6. All five matches will be played in Harare.
