India tour of Zimbabwe: Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Reddy get maiden call-up in Gill-led team

Shubman Gill will lead a relatively inexperienced India squad for a five-match T20I series in Zimbabwe next month. Four members of the squad — allrounders Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Reddy, middle-order bat Riyan Parag and speedster Tushar Deshpande — have earned a maiden India call-up.

The squad was announced by the BCCI on June 24 after the senior men’s selection panel, chaired by Ajit Agarkar, curtailed the 20-member list to 15.

The Hindu understands that once Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya made themselves unavailable for selection citing rest, Gill was the only choice available for captaincy.

Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson is the senior-most member of the squad for the series that will be played in Harare. With the announcement of Rahul Dravid’s successor as the head coach having been delayed, NCA head of cricket V.V.S. Laxman is understood to have been asked to travel with the squad as the head coach.

Senior players competing in the ongoing T20 World Cup in the Americas, including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested ahead of a gruelling season.

Besides Parag, Abhishek and Reddy, other IPL performers boarding the flight to Zimbabwe are Tushar Deshpande, Harshit Rana, Avesh Khan and Rinku Singh among others.

Also featuring in the 15-member squad are Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who were on the bench during the T20 World Cup.

Gill and Avesh, who were part of travelling reserves for India's T20 World Cup campaign, were released after the team finished their group stage matches as they were unlikely to feature in any of the remaining games.

As far as the newcomers are concerned, Abhishek and Parag dominated IPL-17 the most with their brilliant batting.

Punjab batsman Abhishek, who represent Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, had blazed away to 484 runs while Rajasthan Royals' Parag, the first player from Assam to be picked in the senior Indian team, amassed 573 runs.

India's squad for T20I series against Zimbabwe:

Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.

The schedule: July 6, 7, 10, 13, and 14.

All matches start at 4.30 p.m. IST.

(With inputs from PTI)