Dhoni volunteered to tour Zimbabwe to help the youngsters: Sandeep Patil

"Zimbabwe tour is looked as specially for the youngsters to try and test them. The young team which has been sent should give their best and perform. Nothing better opportunity than this. They will get ample experience from this. Dhoni himself wanted to tour Zimbabwe and help the youngsters," Patil said at a press conference, reported News18.

The squad for Zimbabwe also boasts of a variety of spinners, and Patil noted that the selection was done in order to give the captain a plethora of options at his disposal. "We wanted variations in our bowling so Axar, Chahal, Yadav have found a place in the side. BCCI tournaments are very competitive and will be an exciting one for sure," he said.

Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from the squad was hotly debated in the cricket circles, and Patil, who was asked about the same, said that Shreyas was under consideration but couldn’t make the cut.

"We discussed Shreyas as well as others. We did consider their names but it is difficult to fit in all players in a 15-16 member squad," he said.

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