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ToggleThe champions of the ninth edition of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, India will lock in with Zimbabwe for the first of the five-match T20I series. The Zim vs Ind encounter will take place on July 06, 2024, at the Harare Sports Club in Harare. The visitors will look to get most of their youngsters from the squad, to make them prepared for the future.
The senior India side did a great job in the Caribbean and the United States of America, by ending their drought of an ICC trophy for 11 years, besides winning their second title in the T20 World Cup after 17 long years, since winning it in the inaugural edition in 2007.
The Zim vs Ind series will find a young Shubman Gill leading the young India team, who have been excellent in the Indian Premier League (IPL), for the last couple of seasons, and have been rewarded for their hard work in that tournament. Gill, himself, managed to get 426 runs in that tournament in 12 games at an average of 38.82 and a strike rate of around 150.
If he does open in the Zim vs Ind series, then his partner for the first two T20Is is expected to be Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been part of India in T20Is, and is also coming on the back of a successful individual IPL performance, where he smashed 583 runs to be the second highest run getter in 14 innings, at an average of 53 and a strike rate of around 141, with four fifties and a couple of half-centuries.
Riyan Parag will be another exciting talent to look forward to, as he has been consistent in the last season of the competition, having notched up 573 runs in 16 innings, at an average of 52.09, with a strike rate of nearly 150, with four fifties, as he would look to come up with golden performances in this Zim vs Ind contest.
If India go with Gill and Gaikwad at the top order, then perhaps, the young left-handed sensational batter Abhishek Sharma will be required to bat at number three for the Zim vs Ind affair, as he has managed to grill 484 runs in 16 innings, at an average of 32.26, and a strike rate of over 200.
When it comes to the bowling department of the India team, they have been phenomenal too. The young Harshit Rana is in the squad, having picked up 19 scalps in 11 innings, at a bowling average of nearly 20, and an economy of around nine, in the IPL 2024, coming into the Zim vs Ind series. Tushar Deshpande too did a great job with 17 wickets in 13 innings, at an economy of under nine, in a tournament was 220-was an average score.
In the case of the Zimbabwe series, they will led by their star all-rounder Sikandar Raza, who has gained experience in this format, having been part of many leagues in this format in the last one or two years.
The all-rounder, before this Zim vs Ind series, has milked 1947 T20I runs in 82 innings, at an average of 25.29 and a strike rate of almost 135, with 14 half-centuries, besides registering 60 wickets in this format.
Last Five Matches For ZIM vs IND
In the last five encounters of the Zim vs Ind, the Indian team is ahead with a 3-2 margin, and those two wins are the only two victories that the African side has in eight T20Is between them.
ZIM vs IND Teams:
Zimbabwe Probable XI: Milton Shumba, Jonathan Campbell, Innocent Kaia, Dion Mayers, Sikandar Raza (c), Clive Madande, Juke Jongwe, Wellington Masakadza, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava.
India Probable XI: Shubman Gill (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Jitesh Sharma (wk.), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukhesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshit Rana.