The announcement the by the All-Rounder-Senior -Selection-Committee stated that Ahmed has replaced the wounded player Sundar for the upcoming match of the ODI series against Zimbabwe starting from August 18, Harare

“Washington Sundar injured his shoulder while playing a County game in England. He has been ruled out of the Zimbabwe tour,”

the statement read

India will face Zimbabwe in the ODI at the Harare Sports Club on August 18, 2022.

#ShahbazAhmed has replaced "injured" #WashingtonSundar for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, beginning August 18 in Harare#ZIMvIND https://t.co/gD9buXAK1v

— CricketNDTV (@CricketNDTV) August 16, 2022

Previously it was stated that Shikhar Dhawan would be leading India for the games against Zimbabwe but now KL Rahul was found to be fit and he will take the charge.

Team India had departed for Zimbabwe on Saturday. The official Twitter handle of BCCI also shared pictures of the team leaving for Zimbabwe.

Recently Dhawan confronted the West Indies and took India to a 3-0 win. Dhawan had an alarming partnership in the opening over with Shubman Gill.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe had defeated Bangladesh in both the ODI and T20I series.

The Team India for the upcoming 3 ODIs: KL Rahul (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohd Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Shahbaz Ahmed.

Sundar has had a rough last 12 months as he missed one series after one more because of various types of injuries as well as Covid-19-related issues. His saga of endless injuries began back in July 2021 when he had a broken finger while batting for Combined Counties against the Indian team in a warm-up game.

That injury prompted him missing the entire domestic season and afterward before the white ball series in South Africa in January 2022, he was down with Covid. After a month, he missed the twin white ball home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka after a hamstring injury.

During IPL in April and May, he split his webbing and missed out five games for Sunrisers Hyderabad. After extensive rehabilitation, the BCCI played a role in getting him a county deal with Lancashire.

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Prior, KL Rahul was cleared by the BCCI medical team to play in the forthcoming three-match ODI series. The selection committee has designated him the captain of the side and named Shikhar Dhawan as his deputy.

While there will be no Rahul Dravid heading the team of support staff for the short three-match series, beginning August 18 in Harare, NCA head VVS Laxman is close to 100% to follow the outline set by the head coach.