Young India batter Shubman Gill might be handed the captaincy for the Men in Blue’s upcoming tour of Zimbabwe next month. India is slated to play 5 T20Is against Zimbabwe in Harare next month and it is expected that a team full of youngsters will be sent for this assignment.
The BCCI is yet to name the India squad for the tour and reports have stated that the core of the team involved in the T20 World Cup, including Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma, will be given a break.
Also, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav, who have previously captained India in T20Is, have declined to travel to Zimbabwe after being approached by the BCCI.
However, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who all have been warming the bench in the T20 World Cup and IPL performers like Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, and more are expected to be named in the squad.
As per an Indian Express report, the BCCI has already finalized a 20-member squad for Zimbabwe but was waiting for a reply from Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav.
Shubman Gill and fellow reserve player Avesh Khan returned to India after the USA leg of the T20 World Cup ended.
With the team India head coach yet to be finalized, NCA head VVS Laxman will be responsible for coaching the youngsters on the Zimbabwe tour.
India's probable squad for the Zimbabwe T20I series:
Shubman Gill (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Yash Dayal, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Riyan Parag, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel (wk)