Sanju Samson is out of India’s T20I squad for the three-match series in Zimbabwe. The BCCI made seven changes to the squad on Sunday. Samson was one of them. The board hasn’t given any official reason for his exclusion.
The timing of the decision raises questions, as Samson is still part of India’s full-strength squad for the 2026 Asian Games in Japan this September. So this omission appears to be for the current format, not long-term plans.
Axar Patel, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar and Ravi Bishnoi were also left out. Shreyas Iyer takes over as captain for the Zimbabwe tour.
Samson’s Recent Form Under Scrutiny
Samson didn’t play the second T20I against England at Old Trafford. That was the match where 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi debuted as India’s youngest men’s international cricketer, scoring 14 off 10 balls.
Before that game, Samson hadn’t done much to hold his spot. Two matches against Ireland in Belfast, then the opening T20I against England in Durham with scores of 5, 0, and 1. It was not the kind of returns that keep a batter in the XI.
Compare that to where he was a year ago: three half-centuries in a row, right before IPL 2026, helping India win the T20 World Cup. He picked up Player of the Tournament for that stretch.
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Fresh Faces Get Their Chance
Rinku Singh and Mayank Yadav are both back in the T20I fold. Mayank’s last T20I appearance for India was in 2024, after an IPL season where he was clocking over 150kph regularly. Injuries have followed him since. He played only four matches for Lucknow Super Giants this past IPL season, with no wickets and an economy rate above 11.
Four uncapped players get their first T20I call-ups: Prabhsimran Singh behind the stumps, fast bowlers Yash Thakur and Ashok Sharma, and left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey. Dubey has now been picked in all three formats: Test squad against Afghanistan first, then an ODI debut against them last month, and now this.
Prabhsimran had a strong IPL run. He opened for Punjab Kings all season and finished with 510 runs at a strike rate of 168.87, the team’s top scorer. Ashok played for Gujarat Titans, and while the wickets didn’t pile up, his pace did the talking. His fastest ball of the season touched 154.2kph. Thakur and Ashok both featured in India A’s tri-series win in Sri Lanka recently, which likely factored into their selection.
Squad List and Series Schedule
The series starts July 23 in Harare. Two more matches follow, on July 25 and July 26, same venue for all three. This comes right after India wraps up its ongoing ODI series in England, which ends on July 19. Tight turnaround, but that’s the calendar teams are working with these days.
India T20I squad heading to Zimbabwe
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarathy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper).
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