India men's cricket team leaves for Zimbabwe ahead of three-match ODI series

The social media accounts of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) showed pictures of Prasidh Krishna, Deepak Chahar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rahul Tripathi in the flight. NCA head VVS Laxman was also spotted, suggesting that he could be the head coach for the ODI series against Zimbabwe.

When the Indian team was in England for the rescheduled fifth Test in Edgbaston, Laxman was with the T20I squad as the head coach in Ireland and was present for the first T20I at Southampton as well. India enter the series after defeating West Indies 3-0 in Trinidad in July. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, are on a high after an impressive 2-1 series win over Bangladesh at home, coming after another 2-1 series win over them in T20Is. The series is part of the ICC World Cup Super League and massively important for Zimbabwe in order to finish in the top eight of the table. If that happens, Zimbabwe will be eligible for direct qualification to the ODI World Cup in India next year. India have automatically qualified for the mega event by virtue of being the hosts. India will be captained by Rahul, who was added to the squad on August 11. He will take up leadership duties in place of Shikhar Dhawan, who was earlier named as captain and will now be Rahul's deputy. Rahul has been out of competitive cricket since featuring in the IPL 2022 Eliminator on May 25 in Kolkata. His team, debutants Lucknow Super Giants, lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 14 runs at Eden Gardens. Rahul was then named as captain for the five-match T20I series at home against South Africa in June. But a groin injury on the eve of the first match in New Delhi ruled him out of the series. The sports hernia surgery in