Beginning on February 6, Shubman Gill will captain India in five Twenty20 International matches against Zimbabwe. Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma were called up for the first time, while Mukesh Kumar and Riyan Parag will be regulars.
18.6: Clive Madande to Avesh Khan: Madande shuffles over and directs the length ball for a single after it is off-stump. India National Cricket Team vs Zimbabwe National Cricket Team Timeline: 12 runs must be scored in the last over.
ODIs
India will change tactics for its five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe after winning the ODI series. Members of Team India’s victorious World T20 team, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal, are in attendance, along with a number of younger players who were called up for the first time for the Indian team on this Zimbabwe tour, including Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma.
As part of their training regimen, Shubman Gill’s redesigned Indian team came in Harare on Thursday with temporary coach VVS Laxman. Prasidh Krishna, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Rahul Tripathi were seen boarding their aircraft for Zimbabwe in pictures shared to BCCI social media accounts. NCA president VVS Laxman also accompanied them, indicating that he will serve as the Men in Blue’s temporary head coach.
All three of Zimbabwe and Ireland’s One Day International matches will be held at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. The first match is scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM IST, while the others will follow at 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM, respectively. In this three-match series, each team will want to win at least two of the three games in order to gain an early edge.
Zimbabwe defeated India in an ODI the last time these sides played, and India went on to win two more to clinch the series. Since then, India has won all four of their remaining games to clinch a 6-0 sweep; they will play another ODI in Delhi in October. This will be their final chance before they compete in the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. Zimbabwe is now ranked 13th in the ICC Men’s ODI rankings, whereas Pakistan is currently ranked third. Zimbabwe has risen one spot to seventh place as a result of recent series victories. A team in ninth place can be eligible for a playoff berth, while the top eight teams would advance straight to the 2019 ICC World Cup. India’s prospects of making it to the World Cup final would be greatly increased with a 2-0 series win; however, a loss would put them in danger of missing out completely.
T20Is
Zimbabwe has selected a youthful team for a five-match T20I series against India that begins July 6 at Harare Sports Club in an effort to overcome their dismal World Cup debut and boost confidence before upcoming competitions. A team managed by Shubman Gill will include several young players who performed exceptionally well in the IPL 2024 competition.
This trip has taken on even more importance because Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rohit Sharma retired from Twenty20 international cricket. Both Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma received their first India calls thanks to their IPL performances; they may start the batting with Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma, while Sanju Samson or Dhruv Jurel may cover wicketkeeping.
India will be represented by Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, and Tushar Deshpande as seam bowlers, and Washington Sundar and Ravi Bishnoi as spinners. Considering India’s difficulties this year, this will give them a chance to turn things around.
At 4:30 PM (India time), the five Twenty20 Internationals will kick off at the Harare Sports Club. Every game will be streamed live on the Sony LIV app and on Sony Sports Network India.
While their Hindi stream is available on Sony LIV in other countries, the India vs. Zimbabwe Twenty20 Internationals will be televised live on Sony TEN 5 and Sony TEN 3, with English commentary. The opening match of the Zimbabwe-India T20Is is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at 9 PM. There will be four additional games between the two sides every Friday (India-Zimbabwe), Sunday (4 PM), Monday (12 AM), and Tuesday. There will also play another Twenty20 International between these two teams on Sunday between 4 and 4 PM. Before moving on to the following games, which will be played Monday through Wednesday (or potentially earlier), all other games scheduled for 9 PM on Wednesday or Thursday will have their last Twenty20 International between 4 PM on Sunday.
T20I Series
Starting July 13 at 4:30 PM IST, with the first game live-streamed on the SonyLIV app, Shubman Gill will captain an Indian team looking to leave a lasting impression at the T20I series in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s hopes of qualifying for the T20 World Cup were thwarted last month, despite Sikandar Raza’s leadership.
During IPL 2024, Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, and Ravi Bishnoi all shown exceptional play and gave India’s squad more depth. Despite his failure as captain of the Gujarat Titans, Shubman Gill will try to establish himself as the new captain of the Indian T20 team. For the duration of their trip of Zimbabwe, NCA chief VVS Laxman will act as their acting head coach.
Due to a change in international dates, all of the T20I series’ games will now be played at Zimbabwe’s Harare Sports Club. As a result, the schedule has been adjusted, with the T20Is that were originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday now taking place on Wednesday or Thursday. Originally scheduled for December 9–11–12, the schedule has been moved up to Tuesday, December 17.
Following their announcements of retirement from T20I cricket, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja will be watched by India’s backup team. Their young players would want to show off; this series might reveal who will take Rohit’s position as captain when he gets back from his well-earned vacation. However, with Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Rinku Singh in their ranks in addition to Shubman Gill, India should still be a competitive team at home even without their experience!
Final
The fifth and final game in this series will take place at the Harare Sports Club Ground in Harare. India will want to finish their game and win this series by dominating, just like they did in game two. They demonstrated aggressive cricket in that encounter, which they hope to repeat here.
After winning the toss, Zimbabwean captain Sikandar Raza asked India to bat first. After striking two sixes off two consecutive balls, including one off a no-ball from Raza, Abhishek Sharma got off to a strong start but was unable to build on it. Blessing Muzarabani removed him shortly afterward with a short ball that slanted over his bat and caught him behind, while Richard Ngarava bowled skipper Shubman Gill shortly afterward with a delivery that hit his stumps.
Despite losing to Bangladesh and South Africa in their most recent international, Zimbabwe shown growth with both bat and bowl. Lance Klusener and Shaun Pollock both scored half-centuries in South Africa’s opening innings against them, demonstrating this. Nevertheless, they were unable to capitalise on these strong beginnings in their chase against South Africa and were ultimately bowled out for 233 runs.
Before opener Neil Johnson struck an incredible 76 to help close on 247 for 6, Zimbabwe had dropped to 40 for 6 in their second innings. They would end with just three points overall after losing each of their final four games against Bangladesh and South Africa.
Zimbabwe made trips to Sri Lanka and Pakistan after defeating Australia in their first ODI series in 2008–09, but they were unable to leave a lasting effect on either team. This poor performance was made worse by their following home losses to both teams as well as their crushing losses to Australia and South Africa.
With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma departing from T20 cricket, this five-match series is the perfect chance for India’s young players to establish themselves. Mukesh Kumar and Riyan Parag could end up earning regular spots in the squad.
