Three IPL stars added to India's squad for Zimbabwe T20Is

Three IPL stars added to Team India's squad for the five-match T20I series vs Zimbabwe. Who are they? Take a look at the players.

By Pratyusha Bhawar Updated: Jul 2, 2024, 15:28 IST

KKR squad (Source - X)?width=963&height=541&resizemode=4

Team India is all set to lock horns against Zimbabwe for the five matches of the T20I series set to commence on July 6 in Harare. However, the India squad for the first two T20Is now includes IPL stars like Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma, and Harshit Rana as a replacement for Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who were part of the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad.

Meanwhile, the trio, who had been supposed to go to Zimbabwe with the Zimbabwean team for the upcoming five-match T20I series commencing on Saturday, July 6, will first fly to India with the rest of the Indian squad that won the ICC T20 World Cup before making their way to Harare.

Meanwhile, PBKS star batter Jitesh Sharma made his debut in the Asian Games in 2023, and Sudharsan made his ODI debut in South Africa last year. Jitesh Sharma has played nine T20Is for India after winning the Asian Games in 2023. However, Harshit Rana is uncapped for the national team. The star cricketer had a fantastic IPL campaign with the Kolkata Knight Riders, eventually becoming champions. Samson, Dube, and Jaiswal were members of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup on Saturday, June 29, and a hurricane prompted a delay in their flight from Barbados back to India.

Team India was slated to depart from the Caribbean on Monday, but the flight has been cancelled. They are expected to depart on Tuesday evening, and it is reported that they will be flying a direct charter from Barbados to New Delhi. These extra days off would provide the three players with enough time to recover before the third T20Il on July 10; otherwise, it would have been too difficult for them to fly back to India and then head straight to Harare.

Here is the India’s squad for 1st & 2nd T20I against Zimbabwe:

Shubman Gill (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Harshit Rana

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