India began their Zimbabwe tour with the first T20I in Harare on Saturday, fielding a young team led by Shubman Gill as senior players returned from their victorious T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. Despite India’s recent second T20 World Cup triumph, their jerseys for the Zimbabwe series display only one star. The star signifies the number of T20 World Cup titles won, which India has achieved twice – in 2007 and 2024.
The reason behind the single star lies in the timing of events. The Indian team departed for Zimbabwe before the T20 World Cup final, using jerseys designed earlier. A jersey featuring two stars was unveiled later by Sanju Samson upon the team’s return from Barbados. Future jerseys are expected to display two stars to reflect India’s dual victories.
In the match, India won the toss and elected to field first against Zimbabwe. Captain Shubman Gill commented, “We will field first. I think it looks like a good surface. It won’t change much later. It has been long coming. We won an ICC event after 11 years.”
India’s Playing XI included Shubman Gill (c), Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (w), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, and Khaleel Ahmed.