The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were forced to make three changes in the Indian squad for the T20I series against Zimbabwe as some of the members were stuck in Barbados. The likes of Yashasvi, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, who were all part of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, couldn't fly out sooner from the island nation as a hurricane threat forced the government to shut down all flights. The selectors named Harshit Rana, Jitesh Singh and Sai Sudharsan as replacements for the first two matches.
While Harshit and Sudharsan were rewarded on the basis of an exemplary Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 campaign, Jitesh has been in the mix for a couple of years now. However, their inclusion also posed a big question on certain other Team India stars who were ignored. Among those topping the list, were the likes of Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Varun Chakravarthy, Mayank Yadav, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal etc.
Ishan Kishan's case remains arguably the most curious one. He was an all-format player for the Indian team until the tour of South Africa where he asked the BCCI for a break. A lot happened in between that series and the T20 World Cup 2024 squad selection that prompted the selectors to keep the Mumbai Indians wicket-keeper batter on the sidelines.
Ishan was reportedly asked to play Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand and a few other domestic events if he is to be considered for selection but he decided to train with Hardik Pandya for the IPL 2024 campaign.
The move from the Mumbai Indians star didn't seem to have gone well with the BCCI bosses and the selectors who didn't pick him for the Zimbabwe series, despite Sanju Samson's unavailability for the first two matches. The pecking order, at present suggests that Ishan isn't even the 4th choice option in the shortest format. Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, and Jitesh Sharma seem to be ahead of him in the race.
Ishan's case isn't an isolated one, similar questions can be asked about players like 7 other players including KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, two Indian veterans, who weren't picked for the Zimbabwe tour either.
In the bowling unit, the absence of Varun Chakravarthy, Mayank Yadav, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal etc also poses some big questions while many feel that an all-rounder like Venkatesh Iyer could also have been considered.
India's squad for T20Is vs Zimbabwe: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.
Changes for first two T20Is: Harshit Rana, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma