Five India players made their T20 debut today. BCCI have a tradition of resting big players against the small stature teams like Zimbabwe, Scotland , Ireland. In the first T20 against Zimbabwe five new Indian player made their debut.
India played their first T20 against South Africa on December 1, 2006 when all 11 members of the Indian team made debut in T20I under the captaincy of Virender Sehwag.
Five Indian players who made debut in this match (Zimbabwe) are KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal.
However, this is not the first time Indian team management let the young player make a debut in India’s first match of the 2007 WT20.
In 2007 India called on four new players to play against Associate nation Scotland. The players are Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, RP Singh. In 2010 India again called three new players to play the T20 against the African country Zimbabwe. In 2011, Indian management played three new players against a second string West Indies team.
Most of the ICC full members country use these tactics of playing new players against small teams to groom new players before giving them a chance to play a big international match.
Over the years, Zimbabwe have become a weak team. They used to be a strong team in international cricket, but national politics has politicised the national sports, as a result, many talented cricketers left the country.
On the other hand, West Indies cricket’s final problem often left players to play franchise-based cricket tournament when their national team touring for a bilateral series.
During the triangular series at home West Indies have to select only contract players. Big names like Chris Gayle, Dwyane Bravo, Darren Sammy are left out from the team because they are not rewarded a contract by the WICB.
Meanwhile, the associate nations are yet to develop themselves as a strong team so full member team often use their second string team to play the scheduled series. India last time sent a full-fledged team to Zimbabwe in 2005 when Sourav Ganguly led India played a Test series and a triangular series that comprised New Zealand and the host Zimbabwe.
Since 2005 India have been sending second string team to the African nation as the later become a weak team in international cricket.