‘Jet Set Zimbabwe’ is the caption the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) used while sharing fresh pictures of young Team India leaving for the T20I series. In Zimbabwe, India will play 5 T20I matches, with the first starting on July 6.
In the images shared by the BCCI on social media, young Indian cricket players like Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Tushar Deshpande, and Avesh Khan can be seen smiling while they wear black-and-white Indian jerseys.
Other players, such as Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dhruv Jurel, and Mukesh Kumar, are also pictured. VVX Laxman, India’s interim Head Coach, also smiles at the camera.
The missing key players are Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed. These players were part of India’s T20 World Cup 2024 team. Captain Shubman Gill was also not seen in the pictures shared by the BCCI.
Presently, they are stranded in Barbados along with other World Cup heroes due to Hurricane Beryl. The airport was shut down while flights were cancelled due to the intensifying hurricane which is taking aim at the southeastern Caribbean.
Dube was not a part of this young Indian team for the Zimbabwe tour. He was called in when the original selection, Nitish Kumar Reddy, got injured and missed his international debut for India.
All the Team India players heading to Zimbabwe impressed selectors with their performances in IPL 2024. With three T20I legends, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, announcing their retirement soon after the World Cup win, this new brigade will have the responsibility to take India’s legacy forward.
The matches will be played on July 6, 7, 10, 13 and 14. All the matches will be played at the Harare Sports Club in Harare. Every match is scheduled to start at 4:30 PM (India time). Sony Sports Network will broadcast it live on TV while the online live-streaming will be shown on the SonyLIV app.
