The BCCI on Monday evening named an 18-man squad for the next month’s five-match bilateral T20I series in Zimbabwe giving an indication of the direction in which the Indian cricket team is headed towards as far as the shortest format is concerned.
It’s a young squad with Mukesh Kumar being the oldest at 30-year-old and Nitish Kumar Reddy the youngest at 21-year-old. As many as five players have received maiden call-ups for the series that will get underway from July 6 with all the matches to be played in Harare.
Also Read: Gill Captain; Abhishek, Parag, 3 Others Receive Maiden Call-ups
Here’s a brief introduction to the five rising stars
Abhishek Sharma
The India U-19 World Cup winner has been picked thanks to blazing starts he consistently provided during IPL 2024 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Abhishek scored 484 runs from 16 innings at a blistering strike-rate of 204.22. He scored three half-centuries and played a vital role in SRH’s march to the final where they finished runners-up. Overall, the 23-year-old has played 104 T20s and scored 2671 runs in them at a strike-rate of 153.59 including three centuries and 16 half-centuries.
Riyan Parag
Like Abhishek, Parag also had a breakthrough IPL season. Representing Rajasthan Royals, he blasted 573 runs in 16 matches at a strike-rate of 149.21 while batting in the middle order. He scored four half-centuries. He was part of India’s 2018 U-19 World Cup winning squad. The 22-year-old represents Assam in domestic cricket and has scored 2616 runs in 114 T20s at a strike-rate of 143.65 including 22 half-centuries.
Nitish Kumar Reddy
Nitish. an allrounder, shot into the limelight through his eye-catching performances with the bat for SRH in IPL 2024. In a team littered with stars, the 21-year-old (then 20) made head turns. Batting in the lower middle order, he scored 303 runs from 11 innings at a strike-rate of 142.92. The Andhra batter scored two half-centuries as well. Nitish wasn’t needed as a bowler and he took three wickets from 13 matches having bowled 79 deliveries during the season. The youngster is being looked as the successor to Hardik Pandya.
Tushar Deshpande
Deshpande, a right-arm pacer, represents Mumbai in domestic cricket and Chennai Super Kings in IPL. The 29-year-old has been delivering consistent performance in T20s. He finished as the leading wicket-taker for Mumbai at the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 16 wickets from eight matches and an economy of 6.98. In IPL 2024, he was CSK’s leading wicket-taker with 17 wickets from 13 matches and an economy of 8.83. Overall, the right-arm pacer has 116 wickets from 80 T20s.
Dhruv Jurel
Unlike the other four, Jurel has played international cricket. The 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter made his India debut in the five-match Test series against England earlier this year and gave a solid account of himself on challenging pitches. Representing RR, Jurel didn’t have as fruitful a season as he would have liked to, having managed 195 runs from 11 innings at a strike-rate of 138.29 including two half-centuries. However, he has proven his ability as a solid finisher and will in all likeliness be the backup wicketkeeper to his RR captain Sanju Samson in Zimbabwe. Jurel represents Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket and has scored 439 runs from 38 T20s at a strike-rate of 137.61. He has 21 catches and a stumping to his name.
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