Samson Dropped, Rinku & Mayank Return as India Announce Zimbabwe T20I Squad
The BCCI has named a 15-member squad for the upcoming T20I series against Zimbabwe. And there are some big names missing.
Sanju Samson is the most notable omission. Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, and Prasidh Krishna have also been left out. The board has not given any reason for their non-selection.
🚨 News 🚨#TeamIndia squad announced for the 3️⃣-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.
More Details ▶️ https://t.co/sC19D5eW8y#ZIMvIND pic.twitter.com/ctbM5gFMtY
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 6, 2026
Two uncapped players have earned their first India call-ups. Ashok Sharma and Yash Thakur impressed in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, picking up 22 and 18 wickets respectively. Thakur was particularly impressive with an average of 9.88 and economy of 6.80.
Rinku Singh headlines the list of returning players. Mayank Yadav, who last played for India in 2024, is also back after recovering from injury. Prabhsimran Singh, last seen in the 2023 Asian Games, has been recalled. Harsh Dubey, who made his ODI debut against Afghanistan last month, gets his first T20I call-up.
Shreyas Iyer will lead the side, with Tilak Varma as his deputy. The squad includes Ishan Kishan and Prabhsimran Singh as wicketkeeping options. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Varun Chakravarthy, and Prince Yadav complete the lineup.
In other news, Shivam Dube has been named as Nitish Reddy’s replacement for the ODI series against England. Reddy is still recovering from a quadriceps injury that had already ruled him out of the T20Is.
The first T20I against Zimbabwe will be played in Harare on July 23.
India T20I Squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (VC), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (WK)
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