No Sanju Samson in India’s T20I squad for Zimbabwe series; Dube replaces Reddy for ENG ODIs

India has left out two-time T20 World Cup-winning keeper, Sanju Samson, from the T20I squad for the three-match series against Zimbabwe, starting later in July. Samson, however, is not the only marquee player to miss out as frontline quicks Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna, alongside Washington Sundar and Ravi Bishnoi, have also been omitted. While the selectors haven’t mentioned whether Samson and others are rested or dropped, they have included several newcomers, including Prabhsimran Singh and seamers Yash Thakur and Ashok Sharma. Left-arm spin all-rounder Harsh Dubey has also been included.

On the other hand, lanky all-rounder Shivam Dube has replaced injured Nitish Kumar Reddy for the three-match ODI series against England, starting July 14 at Edgbaston.

India’s T20I Squad for Zimbabwe Series –

Shreyas Iyer (captain), 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 and Prabhsimran Singh (wk)

Sooryavanshi included

Fresh from his India debut at 15 years and 99 days, teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has also retained his place in the T20I side for the away series in Zimbabwe. Against England in the recently concluded 2nd T20I, Sooryavanshi became the youngest Indian men’s debutant, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s long-standing record of 16 years and 298 days.

Top-ranked T20I batters, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, have been included alongside Tilak Varma and Dube. Shreyas Iyer will continue to lead the team, which also sees the comebacks of Rinku Singh and seamer Mayank Yadav. While Prabhsimran earned his maiden senior team call-up, express pacer Mayank is back again for the first time since injuring himself following his India debut in 2024.

Sanju’s absence raises questions

Even though he would have been rested, given his extended rope since the start of this year, Sanju Samson’s absence does raise questions over his T20I future, especially after Sooryavanshi’s debut. India notably benched Samson to facilitate the 15-year-old's highly anticipated debut, after which footage of an animated boundary-line interaction between Samson and head coach Gautam Gambhir went viral across social media platforms.

However, Sanju’s form remains a worry for India, who are yet to win a game on this away UK tour. Sanju registered single-digit scores in the three T20Is (two against Ireland and one against England). His partner Abhishek, on the other hand, has been among the runs, hitting two fifties and 43 in four T20Is so far.

Check out India’s updated ODI squad for England series-

Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar and Shivam Dube