Shubman Gill set to become India's new captain after T20 World Cup 2024; Rohit Sharma's tenure to end

Indian opener Shubman Gill is likely to lead a young contingent of players in India's upcoming tour to Zimbabwe. The five-match T20I series will be played from July 6-14. All the matches will be played in Harare.

The senior players in Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and others are likely to be rested. The likes of Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tushar Deshpande, and Harshit Rana are expected to be included in the squad for this T20I series. Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal who are part of the reserves in the T20I squad will also be part of the squad. 

Shubman Gill takes away captaincy after Hardik Pandya and Surykumar Yadav deny to play Zimbabwe series

Indian Express further reported that the BCCI selection committee had already picked a provisional 20-member squad for the upcoming series but were waiting for confirmation from Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. 

Shubman Gill who travelled with Indian team to the USA and the Caribbean for the World Cup is back to India along with Avesk Khan as the team management wanted to give them a break as they were unlikely to feature in any of the T20 World Cup games.

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The management is willing to give the youngsters who performed in the IPL 2024 a chance for their consistent in the league earlier this year. Abhishek Sharma, the southpaw scored 484 runs in 16 games. Riyan Parag ha his first big season as he scored 573 runs and was the third-highest run-scorer in the season with an average of over 50. Harshit Rana picked up 19 wickets for KKR in their title-winning season, the second-highest for KKR after Varun Chakravarthy's 21. The leggie's now perhaps was not in consideration. 

The management wanted a medium pacer all-rounder which is why Nitisb Reddy's name came into consideration. He won the Emerging Player Of The Year award for his runs and consistency with the bat. The youngster scored 303 runs at an average of 33.67 in 11 games for SRH and played a key role in taking them to the final. 

Thus this will be another of those series where the young brigade of the Indian team will be given opportunities to prove their worth. The five-match series should give players enough opportunities to showcase their skill set and win games for Team India. All these players are now experienced enough having played a lot of IPL cricket and hence they should be able to handle the pressure of playing against Zimbabwe. 

VVS Laxman to Coach In Zimbabwe

Meanwhile with the BCCI yet to appoint the new head coach of the Indian cricket team, VVS Laxman will travel with the squad and will be the coach of the side for this tour. He previously worked as the interim head coach of the Indian team when India played a series against Ireland in Dublin under the leadership of Hardik Pandya. Laxman is the head of cricket at the National Cricket Academy. 

Rahul Dravid's tenure as the head coach of Team India ends after the ongoing T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean. The next Indian coach is likely to join the team for the tour of Sri Lanka which begins on July 27. Gautam Gambhir is the front-runner to become the next head coach of the Indian team as per multiple media reports.

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