The Zimbabwe tour gave a bunch of Indian youngsters their first taste of international cricket. India clinched the five-match T20I series with a dominating scoreline of 4-1 under the captaincy of Shubman Gill.
The tour was the first for India after they became the world champions last month but featured only three players – Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube – from the squad that lifted the trophy in Barbados.
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With Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja bidding goodbye to T20Is, three spots have opened up and the Zimbabwe series gave the hopefuls a nice platform to stake their claims.
India’s next assignment is a tour of Sri Lanka where they will play three ODIs and as many T20Is and with that, the rein of new head coach Gautam Gambhir will officially get underway.
There were four debutants for India in Zimbabwe including Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel and Tushar Deshpande. Of these four, Abhishek left the biggest impression thanks to a blistering hundred in the second T20I that helped India bounce back to draw level after suffering a shock defeat in the opening clash.
With the arrival of Jaiswal midway through the series, Abhishek batted at no. 3 after initially partnering captain Gill at the top of the batting order.
And it seems that for the time being, the two opening spots will remain with Gill and Jaiswal while once Suryakumar Yadav returns, he will slot into the no.3 spot followed by Rishabh Pant at no. 4 – both were rested from the Zimbabwe tour following the T20 World Cup.
Considering Abhishek is a top-order batter, it seems difficult for him to break into the playing XI despite the promising start to his international career but former India selector Saba Karim feels that the youngster deserves to be at least picked in the squad of 15.
“The most important positions will be in the top order only. I feel the selectors should go with these two (Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill) only. I feel Abhishek Sharma should get a place at least in the 15 because you have Rishabh Pant at No. 3 and Suryakumar Yadav at No. 4,” Karim said on Sony Sports.
“It also depends on who is the captain in T20Is. Gautam Gambhir is the head coach, so what is the thinking of the captain and head coach, and how they want to take the team forward. They will have to select players accordingly. Ruturaj Gaikwad is also there. So many players are staking a claim in the top order,” he added.
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