India vs Zimbabwe Highlights, 1st T20I: Sikandar Raza and Co end IND's World Cup party with a 13-run win

The recently crowned World Champions returned with eight-single digit scores to be bowled out for 102 in 19.5 overs in pursuit of a target of 116. Earlier, India captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl against Zimbabwe at Harare. Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag make their international debut. Dhruv Jurel, who played Test cricket for India, got the chance to play his first T20I. The young brigade is all set to kickstart the transitional phase in the shortest format as Shubman Gill takes over the charge in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. Gill will look to prove a point on his first assignment as India's captain after missing out on the final 15 members of the T20 World Cup squad. Senior stars Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja have announced retirement from T20Is and passed the baton to the youngsters after lifting the T20 World Cup. Shubman will lead the squad comprised of the young IPL stars as Abhishek Sharma, Harshit Rana, Riyan Parag and Tushar Deshpande will look to announce their arrival on the big stage.

None of India's World Cup winners will be in action in the first two matches on Saturday and Sunday, but squad members Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube and Sanju Samson will be available for the last three games.

Shubman has already announced that Abhishek will make his international debut in the first T20I and open the innings alongside him. Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad will bat at number 3, meanwhile, Riyan is also expected to make his debut and bat at the number 4 position, where he batted in IPL 2024 for Rajasthan Royals.

With India yet to announce a long-term successor to Dravid, interim coach VVS Laxman will be in charge in Harare.

Gill, who is touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket, believes that he learned a lot of lessons in his debut captaincy stint in the IPL where his team finished at eighth spot with 12 points with five wins and seven defeats.

"A lot of lessons. When I captain for the first time for my IPL team, I got to know a lot more things about myself and a lot more things about the leadership perspective. And I felt most of the challenges that you face as a captain are more mental," he said.

In men's T20 internationals, India holds the upper hand against Zimbabwe. The two-time T20 world champions have won six of the eight head-to-head contests. Zimbabwe defeated India twice: once in 2015 and once in 2016. Both of Zimbabwe's victories came in Harare.

The two teams last met in the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Group B. Suryakumar Yadav smashed an unbeaten 25-ball 61 to help India win the contest by 71 runs.

However, Zimbabwe will be under pressure as they enter the series following a 4-1 loss against Bangladesh. They also failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup which was a massive setback for them.

Zimbabwe have a new coach in Justin Sammons, who was previously South Africa's batting coach. Zimbabwe named a largely youthful squad. Captain Sikander Raza, 38, is the only player aged over 30.

Highlights of India vs Zimbabwe 1st T20I

Ravi Bishnoi claimed a four-fer as ZIM posted 115/9

Avesh Khan dismisses Sikandar Raza for 17

Ravi Bishnoi broke a crucial partnership to put ZIM on backfoot

Mukesh Kumar struck on his first ball

Three debutants for India: Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel

Shubman Gill elected to bowl first