India vs Zimbabwe 2024 Combined Best Team of the T20 Series
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill to open as we look at the combined best team of the series for India vs Zimbabwe 2024 T20.
0-1 was the scoreline at the start of the series as the T20 World Champions, Team India were completely undone by Zimbabwe in a low-scoring clash in the first match. But what a comeback by this young bunch as they ended the series 4-1 by winning all the remaining four matches. It took one match to adapt to Zimbabwe’s conditions, and the young Indian team did that in style.
While India did win the series 4-1, what impressed me more than winning the series was the opportunity that all 15 players got in the squad. Team India continuously rotated their players in the series, and as a result, each player played at least 2 matches. This has been a welcome change for the Indian team that focused more on giving more opportunities to the players than securing a series win first.
Overall, India may have defeated Zimbabwe, but that doesn’t take the fact that Zimbabwe were competitive for most part of the Series. Be it Sikandar Raza or Blessing Muzarabani, both were good for Zimbabwe. But which players impressed the most in the 5-match series? Well, let’s look at the combined best T20 Team of the Series for India vs Zimbabwe 2024.
India vs Zimbabwe 2024 Team of the Series:
Starting with the openers, the duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill has impressed the most. While Jaiswal didn’t feature in the first two matches, he still ended as the second-highest run-getter with 141 runs to his name. Whereas Gill ended as the leading run scorer with 171 runs from 5 innings. Both were the best openers of the series, but the stats of Gill could have been better.
If we talk about the middle-order, the main confusion was whether Abhishek Sharma makes it to the final 11. While Abhishek remains the only centurion, he did poorly in the other 3 matches scoring just 24 runs. In comparison, Dion Mayers did well by scoring 134 runs, and giving Zimbabwe the chance to compete. So, in a relative context, Dion Mayers felt more valuable.
So without Abhishek, Ruturaj Gaikwad at 3 is a gold batting option. Ruturaj Gaikwad did well in the four matches he played by smashing 133 runs at an average of 60+. If we talk about the keeping duties, Sanju Samson is the chosen one without any doubt. Sanju got to bat in only two innings, and he made a fifty in that.
Other than these two, Zimbabwe Captain Sikandar Raza remains their best player of the series. Be it batting or bowling, Sikandar inspired his team on both counts. While he scored 90 runs as a batter, which isn’t bad, he also took 6 wickets, thus signifying his value in both departments. Given the struggle of his team overall, Sikandar did a pretty good job.
Coming to the finishers and all-rounders, two finishes that impressed the most were Dion Mayers and Washington Sundar. While for Dion Mayers, we already gave the reasoning, Washington Sundar is a unanimous selection for being the player of the series. Sundar, the leading wicket-taker of the reason took 8 wickets, and scored 28 decent runs. This is an important thing for the Indian team as they are also looking for a replacement for Jaddu, and Sundar could exactly be that.
Finally, talking about the bowling, 3 Indian bowlers and 1 Zimbabwe bowler were the standout of the series. From Team India, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, and Ravi Bishnoi stood out, and for Zimbabwe, only Blessing Muzarabani stood out. While Mukesh took 8 wickets from just 3 innings, Avesh Khan had 6 wickets from 3 innings, and Bishnoi and Muzarabani had 6 wickets from 5 innings.
India vs Zimbabwe 2024 Combined Best Team of the Series:
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Shubman Gill (c)
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
- Sanju Samson (wk)
- Sikandar Raza
- Dion Mayers
- Washington Sundar
- Mukesh Kumar
- Avesh Khan
- Ravi Bishnoi
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Blessing Muzarabani
So, that’s about the combined best T20 Team of the Series for India vs Zimbabwe 2024. It has been a series to remember for Shubman Gill, who competed a 4-1 domination in his debut Captaincy series. The team now moves to Sri Lanka, where they play 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs. A lot of senior players are expected in the India vs Sri Lanka 2024 series, so it will be interesting to see the final squad.
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Adesh Kothari is the founder of AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics with over 20 years of experience following Cricket.
Cricket to him is like what Football is to Lionel Messi, Singing is to Lata Mangeshkar, Dancing is to Michael Jackson, and Acting is to Clint Eastwood.
Besides his effervescent love for Cricket, Adesh is an MBA by qualification.
