India, Zimbabwe look to future in T20 series
Zimbabwe and India will be looking to the future when they start a five-match Twenty20 international series at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
Outgoing Indian coach Rahul Dravid described India's win in the T20 World Cup in Barbados last Saturday as the end of «a journey of two years».
With the next T20 World Cup scheduled for India and Sri Lanka in 2026, the series in Zimbabwe marks the start of a new two-year journey for both sides.
But whereas India will be seeking to build on last weekend's triumph, Zimbabwe need to start again after failing to qualify for the recent global event. They were squeezed out by Namibia and Uganda in the Africa region qualifier in Namibia last November.
None of India's World Cup winners will be in action in the first two matches on Saturday and Sunday but squad members Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube and Sanju Samson will be available for the last three games.
The trio returned to India with the rest of the World Cup squad after their departure from Barbados was delayed by a hurricane.
Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma and Harshit Rana were named as replacements for the first two matches.
Shubman Gill will captain a second-string Indian team. He is one of several players who can stake an early claim to fill the gap left by star batsmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who announced their retirement from T20 internationals after victory in Barbados.
Another player who needs to be replaced is left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who also announced his retirement from the
