While Rohit Sharma’s Team India continues to celebrate the T20 World Cup win at home, a second-string side, led by Shubman Gill, will kick off the tour of Zimbabwe on Saturday in Harare. Ahead of the 5-match T20I series opener in Harare, the young captain confirmed that uncapped batter Abhishek Sharma will open the innings in what will be his international debut while Ruturaj Gaikwad will bat at no. 3.
Addressing the pre-match presser on Friday, Gill confirmed the top-order against Zimbabwe for the first T20I.
“Abhishek will open with me, and Ruturaj will play at number three. Rohit bhai and Virat bhai had opened in the World Cup, and I also open (the innings) in the T20s. So, I think I would like to open in the T20s,” said Gill in the pre-match press conference.
With the next edition of the T20 World Cup to be hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 2026, the T20Is against Zimbabwe mark the beginning of a new two-year journey for the current world champions in the shortest format. The stalwarts – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja – bowed out following the T20 World Cup triumph in the Caribbean, passing the baton to the talented youngsters who have proved their mettle in the Indian domestic circuit and IPL.
Gill and Abhishek will be staking an early claim to fill those gaps.
“I think there is always pressure and expectations. But what I think Virat bhai and Rohit bhai have achieved, if I go to reach that thing, then it will be very difficult for me. Every player has his own goal, like where he wants to reach.”
“So there is a lot of pressure. If you want to reach where other people have reached, then you have more pressure. But what they have achieved or what they have done for India, there is no pressure in that thing, because they are both idols and legends of Indian cricket,” added Gill.
Apart from Abhishek, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Tushar Deshpande, B. Sai Sudarshan and Harshit Rana (first two matches only) are the newbies in India’s T20I team to be coached by National Cricket Academy (NCA) head VVS Laxman.
“Yes, there is definitely a lot of excitement, because there are a lot of young players who will be playing for the first time. It is always exciting when you see new players coming and making their debut and doing well. So in terms of that, yes there is a lot of excitement in the team to be able to come here and do well,” said Gill.
“If you look at the team, it’s a quite different team from the one that played in the World Cup. There are a lot of young players in the team, including myself. So, in terms of that, we just want to give the players experience and what it is like to play at the international level.”
“Because a lot of the players haven’t played that many matches and some of the players haven’t even made their debut. So that is our aim for the series, to give them more international exposure and experience,” added Gill on India’s objectives from the Zimbabwe series.
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