India's B Team To Travel To Zimbabwe For 3 ODIs, VVS Laxman To Be The Head Coach - Reports

The Indian team management is likely to assemble a ‘B’ team to travel to Zimbabwe for the 3-match ODI series, where VVS Laxman is touted to be the head coach.

The tour will be right before the Asia Cup and in order to manage the workload, a secondary team will likely be formed. This has been tested before by the BCCI when they sent a Shikhar Dhawan-led team to Sri Lanka for a white-ball series.

“Yes, Team India will tour Zimbabwe for a small ODI series. The first match will be played on August 18, the second on 20, and the third and final ODI will be played on 22. Team B will travel to Zimbabwe for the series and VVS Laxman will be the coach of the team,” a BCCI source told ANI.

The tour is the Men in Blue’s first in over six years. The previous time they visited Zimbabwe was when MS Dhoni was the captain back in 2016.

“It’s a big opportunity for the players to play against the Indian players and for the cricketing fraternity in Zimbabwe. It will create a lot of interest amongst the younger generation to take up this game. Overall, the series is very good for Zimbabwe cricket,” Lalchand Rajput, the Techincal Director of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) said.

Currently, the Indian team is battling it out in England. They have taken a 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series. The ODI series will follow after which a Shikhar Dhawan-led ODI team will tour West Indies.

India’s squad for 2nd and 3rd T20I against England:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik

India’s squad for 3 ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, J Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, Arshdeep Singh

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