BCCI announces the second-string squad against Zimbabwe

Indian cricket board has announced a second-string squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe which is scheduled to kick off on July 10. Ajinkya Rahane will lead this squad in three ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is perhaps the surprise inclusion of this squad. Harbhajan, who will turn 35 in July 3 this year, played his last ODI for his country in June 2011. Two new players in ODI side are Manish Pandey and Sandeep Sharma.

Another surprise inclusion in this squad may be Robin Uthappa. Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu have also made their places in the squad. As the team does not include any specialist wicketkeeper, anyone of them can be seen behind the wicket.

Players who have been rested from the tour series are ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Ravichandran Ashwin. India’s tour of Bangladesh was very disappointing as they lost the three-match ODI series 2-1 to Bangladesh.

Both Zimbabwe and India will play three ODIs on July 10, 12 and 14 in Harare Sports Club. After the ODI series, they will play two Twenty20 matches on July 17 and 19 at the same venue.

Indian cricket board has not yet appointed any new head coach to succeed Duncan Fletcher. It is expected that the board would meet this month to select the new head coach.

Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Harbhajan Singh, Axar Patel, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma