The T20 team of India will travel to Zimbabwe later in July to play a three-match T20 series. After ending their T20 World Cup stint with a win at the Ahmedabad Stadium in India, the management would now focus on shaping their squad for the next World Cup in 2028. It would be interesting to see what squad combination the management will be going with, as they already have a balanced team, which also proved itself in the finals.
The opening game of the Zimbabwe tour is scheduled just four days after India plays their final match of the England tour. The white-ball squads will travel to England for five T20Is and three ODIs in July, a series expected to play a key role in shaping combinations for the ODI World Cup 2027.
The Indian squad will play their first match against Zimbabwe on July 23, 2026, in the Harare Stadium. Harare Stadium was also the same place where Shubman Gill made his T20 captaincy debut in 2024, where he unfortunately lost the match. As of now, it looks like the team would stick with Suryakumar Yadav as their skipper, but the opening positions of both Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson are at risk. Sharma has been unable to perform in any T20 match except the final at Ahmedabad, and he is continuing with the same streak in the IPL. Samson has also been inconsistent in performing in the matches, and he recently got out for a low score while playing for the CSK.
Ishan Kishan, however, isn’t going away from the T20S soon, as he was a phenomenal player during the World Cup, and his last knock for SRH against RCB was a captain’s knock.
While the ODI and T20I setups are largely separate, key players such as Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh continue to feature in both formats. Bumrah is widely expected to skip bilateral T20Is this season, but the same may not apply to players like Axar Patel.
Also Read | India to play three-match T20I series vs Zimbabwe in July; schedule announced
Zimbabwe will play their second T20 match against Team India on Saturday, July 25, in the Harare Stadium. Zimbabwe will play their first T20 series against India after losing to the team earlier in the World Cup, which also ended their campaign towards the World Cup Final.
Players like Jurel and Jaiswal may get a call again for the series if they have a good IPL. Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana, however, would be doubtful for the series as Chakravarthy is going through a rough patch, and there is no update on Rana’s injury so far.
Zimbabwe had a good World Cup campaign, where they qualified for the Super Eight after missing out on qualifying for the T20 World Cup in 2024. The qualification also secured Zimbabwe a direct entry into the T20 World Cup in 2028, which would be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in the second half of 2028. India’s probable squad:
Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, and Avesh Khan.
Zimbabwe to travel to India in January 2027
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe will begin its Tour of India in January 2027, where they will play 3 ODI matches against India in the key venues at Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai respectively.
