Shubman Gill to lead in Zimbabwe series, Riyan Parag among quartet to receive maiden call-ups

New Delhi: Shubman Gill lead the Indian cricket team in their five-match T20I series away in Zimbabwe with younf turks Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma, Tushar Desphande and Nitish Reddy receiving maiden call-ups to the national teams.

The quartert were rewarded for their impressive peformances in IPL 2024 as veteran players including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah were rested keeping in mind their workload at the ongoing T20 World Cup.

The BCCI’s selection committee picked a 15-member squad for five T20S that begins from July 6 for which the Indian team will land in Harare in the first week of the month.

Apart from Parag, Abhishek, Reddy, and Desphande other promising cricketers who made a mark in IPL 2024 – Harshit Rana, Avesh Khan and Rinku Singh – were acknowledged with call-ups.

Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal are the only two players from the T20 World Cup squad to have been included in the squad. Both are yet to play any match in the ongoing tournament.

Gill and Avesh went to the USA as part of reserves for India’s T20 World Cup squad but returned after the team’s group stage matches.

Squad: Ꮪhubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.#TeamIndia | #ZIMvIND

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 24, 2024

Parag and Abhishek lit up IPL 2024 with their electrifying batting performances. Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Abhishek amassed 484 runs while Rajasthan Royals’ Parag scored 573 runs.

Parag became the first cricketer from Assam to be selected for the senior Indian team.

India’s squad for T20I series against Zimbabwe:

Ꮪhubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.

 Veteran players including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah were rested keeping in mind their workload at the ongoing T20 World Cup.  Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today