ZIM vs IND 2022: Shahbaz Ahmed replaces injured Washington Sundar

Spin-bowling all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed has been named as a replacement for Washington Sundar for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, the BCCI announced on their Twitter account on Tuesday.

Sundar’s troubles with injuries continued as he suffered a shoulder injury while playing for Lancashire against Worcestershire in a Royal London One-Day Cup match in Manchester. The all-rounder from Tamil Nadu hasn’t had the rub of the green on his side in the recent past as he has been troubled with injuries.

Sundar was earlier ruled out of the IPL due to a hand injury while playing for SunRisers Hyderabad.

On the other hand, Shahbaz Ahmed impressed one and all while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in Tata IPL 2022. Shahbaz scored 219 runs in 16 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He also took four wickets for RCB and played a key role in the team’s run to the playoff stages.

The left-hander also scored 262 runs while playing for Bengal in Ranji Trophy, including a century. Thus, he deserves his place in the Indian squad.

KL Rahul will lead the team in three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe. The first ODI will be played at the Harare Sports Club, Harare on 18th August. Rahul hasn’t played International cricket for a long time and he will look to hit the ground running.

All the main players are rested in the upcoming series as the Indian team is focusing on the Asia Cup. VVS Laxman has been appointed as the head coach for the team as Rahul Dravid will travel to UAE with the other squad.

India squad for 3 ODIs: KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohd Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Shahbaz Ahmed.