Belgium — Born all-rounder, Antum Naqvi has received his maiden call up for the Chevrons after he was provisionally named in the 17-member Zimbabwe squad that will face India in a five-match T20I series that gets underway on Saturday at Harare Sports Club.
However, according to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), the 25-year-old's participation is subject to confirmation of his citizenship status.
Naqvi was born to Pakistani parents in Brussels, Belgium, and moved to Australia at a young age where he grew up and is based. He made his first class debut for Rhinos last season and had a memorable outing in Zimbabwe's top flight.
His selection was as a result of his declaration of wanting to play international cricket for Zimbabwe.
With eyes set on rebuilding with a youthful squad under the stewardship of South African Justin Sammons, Zimbabwe have picked a young squad with an average age of 27 and a combined total of 558 T20I appearances.
The oldest player in the team is the skipper, Sikandar Raza, who is 38 years old and boasts of 86 appearances in the shortest version of the game.
The second most experienced player selected for the series is Zimbabwe's all-time leading wicket taker in the format, Luke Jongwe who boasts of 63 appearances.
Jongwe has 65 T20I wickets to his name and is three ahead of paceman, Richard Ngarava who also made the team.
The 26-year-old left hander has 62 scalps to his name in 52 appearances while his fast bowling partner, Blessing Muzarabani with 60 in 51 matches made the team for the forthcoming series as well.
The Chevrons welcome the return of fast bowler Tendai Chatara alongside Wessly Madhevere, Brandon Mavuta, Dion Myers, Innocent Kaia and Milton Shumba.
Chatara had fallen out of favour with the selectors while Madhevere and Mavuta were serving suspensions for recreational drug use.
It was a deserved call up for Myers who has been knocking on the selection door since returning back to Zimbabwe from studying abroad.
Clive Madande, Brian Bennett, Johnathan Campbell, Wellington Masakadza, Tadiwanashe Marumani and Faraz Akram have been retained, but five of the players who were part of the team's last T20I series, away to Bangladesh in April, have missed out.
However, there was no place for the legendary duo of, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams as they were not considered for selection as per ZC reports which suggested that Williams retired from T20Is after the completion of their tour of Bangladesh in May.
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All-rounder, Ryan Burl, batter Joylord Gumbie and spinner Ainsley Ndlovu failed to make the cut.
The series against India will mark a new chapter for Zimbabwe as they will be under a new technical set up. Sammons was appointed head coach last week, with former Zimbabwe international Dion Ebrahim as his assistant.
They were tasked with securing qualification for the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe and India have faced each other eight times in 20-over cricket with India winning six of those while the Chevrons have only emerged victorious on a couple of occasions.
The five matches between Zimbabwe and India are pencilled for July 6, 7, 10, 13 and 14. All the five matches will be starting at 1pm.
Zimbabwe squad for India series:
Sikandar Raza (captain), Faraz Akram, Brian Bennett, Johnathan Campbell, Tendai Chatara, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Brandon Mavuta, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Antum Naqvi, Richard Ngarava, Milton Shumba
