Indian captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bowl in the first game of three-match T20I series vs Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Thursday.
Updated: July 23, 2026, 4:33 PM IST
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India captain Shreyas Iyer (right) with Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza in Harare. (Source: X)
IND vs ZIM 2026 1st T20: Team India captain Shreyas Iyer’s luck with the toss continued on Thursday as he once again called right in the first T20I of three-match series vs Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club and elected to bowl first. The Indian team brought back 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi into the playing 11 to partner with world No. 2 batter Abhishek Sharma at the top after being dropped for 5th T20I vs England earlier this month.
The visiting team have also handed an international debut to Gujarat Titans tearaway Ashok Sharma, who is capable of bowling at over 150kmph. Ashok will partner with Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mayank Yadav, who is another 150kmph pacer but last played T20I cricket for India in October 2021.
“We are going to bowl first. This is my first time here, so I don’t know how the wicket is going to play. But looking at the practice wickets and the practice wickets on the side, there was a decent amount of bounce. So definitely, that’s one of the aspects. I don’t know how it’s going to play, but anticipating it (bounce from the pitch),” Iyer said at toss in Harare on Thursday.
“They’ve (Zimbabwe) been playing brilliantly for the last couple of years, especially at the World Cup, the way they played. It was pleasing to the eye. The batsmen and the bowlers executing their strengths. It was amazing,” the Indian skipper added.
Ashok, who plays first-class cricket for Rajasthan, was bought for Rs 90 lakh by Shubman Gill’s Gujarat Titans ahead of IPL 2026 season. The 24-year-old has turned out in 16 T20 games in his career so far and claimed 28 wickets at an average of 20.42.
He turned out in six matches for GT in the IPL 2026 season and claimed 6 wickets. Meanwhile, Mayank Yadav, who was retained for Rs 11 crore by Sanjiv Goenka’s Lucknow Super Giants, last played international cricket for India in a T20I match vs Bangladesh.
Mayank has played in 3 T20I matches for India so far and claimed 4 wickets. For India, Rinku Singh also returns to the playing 11 after being dropped for tours of Ireland and England following T20 World Cup 2026.
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, have handed debut to Ben Curran an Newman Nyamhuri. Curran is brother of England all-rounders Sam Curran and Tom Curran.
India vs Zimbabwe 2026 Playing 11
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Ben Curran, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (c), Ryan Burl, Wessly Madhevere, Brad Evans, Newman Nyamhuri, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani
India: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Prince Yadav, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav
