India land in Zimbabwe carrying a losing streak in T20Is nobody wants to talk about, and this three-match series is where Shreyas Iyer gets his next shot at breaking it. The first game is July 23 at the Harare Sports Club, with all three fixtures on the same ground and the surroundings a setup for Sarpanch Saab’s Men in Blue to get back to winning ways.

The defeats in Ireland and England are an extremely odd sight for a team that lifted the T20 World Cup not that long ago and is now stuck in its longest winless run in the format. Talk of needing momentum continues, but the latest assignment is an ideal platform to make a statement.

Zimbabwe's home form isn't a given, and head-to-head, India dominates with 11 wins in 14 T20Is, while the hosts have three wins. Their last encounter was at the 2026 T20 World Cup, where India won by 72 runs. India’s last bilateral visit to Zimbabwe in 2024 ended 4-1 in favor of India. Form and history don't always agree, though, and a squad missing this many senior names can't just lean on past results.

However. this isn't the group that stumbled in England, not really. Varun Chakravarthy's hamstring never came right, so Ravi Bishnoi steps in. The bigger story is who's absent altogether: Sanju Samson, despite being in India's full squad for the Asian Games, and the experienced bowling unit of Axar Patel, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and Washington Sundar. Ishan Kishan and Prabhsimran Singh will split the keeping. Rinku Singh's back too, and so are uncapped pacers Yash Thakur and Ashok Sharma, getting their first real look. Add Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Suryansh Shedge to that batting order, and there's plenty worth watching, both with the new ball and further down the order.

All three matches start at 4:30 PM IST on July 23, 25 and 26, all at Harare Sports Club. Three fixtures won't fix everything that's gone wrong over the last couple of months. But somewhere in this series, Sarpanch Saab will look to create a version of this team that actually wins. And this young, largely rebuilt squad in unfamiliar conditions is as good a place as any to start looking.

India’s tour of Zimbabwe squad

Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (Vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper).