India will be starting their new T20I campaign on Saturday as they take on Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club. A new Indian side will be taking on the field on the weekend. The senior members of the squad recently featured in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 where they won the major silverware after 11 years. The Men in Blue will have a new captain Shubman Gill leading the side in the 5-match bilateral series.
This will be Gill’s first stint as a national team captain. Previously he led his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Gujarat Titans in the 2024 edition. The young batter was in the reserve squad for the recently concluded World Cup. It has been a known factor that he will be opening the innings for the new and young squad. The question arises who will be partnering him up in the first match.
The Punjab-born batter has not chosen the second-highest run-scorer in the IPL 2024 Ruturaj Gaikwad for the opening slot. He has chosen a new opening partner Abhishek Sharma, who has been a close friend of the right-handed batter as well. It is to be believed that Gaikwad has left out the opening slot for his captain, in the upcoming series.
Has Gill chosen form over experience?
The fans are also pretty shocked that Abhishek has been chosen over Ruturaj Gaikwad. The latter has proved to be at his best while opening the innings and has scored a century as well against Australia. On the other hand, the Southpaw is yet to prove his worth in the national team jersey. The Sunrisers Hyderabad opener has proved himself a strong candidate in the franchise league.
Despite the consistency in the opening slot the Chennai Super Kings captain has to be shifted to No.3. In the position he has not much experience of batting in the shortest format of the game. The Men in Blue captain has the experience of batting at No.3 and he might also be shifting to the position if there’s a need in the upcoming games of the series.
