Men in Blue led by Hardik Pandya is all set to tour Ireland for India vs Ireland T20i 2-match series after the South African series at home. The series will be a final dress for India’s tour to England in July and the matches will be played on June 26 and 28. This is India’s second try against Ireland and India won the T20I series 2-0 back then. Both are looking ahead to the T20 World Cup, the larger goal, this year.
While Ireland is ready to take the series with their powerhouses, India is looking forward to testing their young shields in the series. In the absence of the 1st choice players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul, Rishabh Pant & Jasprit Bumrah, Ireland is expecting to give their best to make a mark against India. But team India is fully confident with the previous victories with Ireland. Also, India came out fresh from the series against South Africa with the young players. This series will be an opportunity for both to make an impact in the Cricket world.
The 1st match is scheduled on June 26, Sunday at The Village Cricket Club, Malahide, Dublin at 9 pm. Both BCCI and Ireland Cricket Board announced their squad for the 2-match series. BCCI announced a 17-member squad and the Irish Team announced a 15-member squad for the match. Andrew Balbirnie will lead the Irish team and Hardik Pandya will lead Team India.
Even though India won the whole 3 T20Is against Ireland, the Irish Cricket Team has come a long way to establish themselves as a major competitor at the international level. They have got some exciting possibilities in their line-up. Andrew Balbirnie, the Captain and batsman will be one of India’s biggest threats in the upcoming match. He has represented Ireland in 67 T20Is and he has scored 1429 runs at an average of 24.22. he will surely give a strong start to the team by scoring runs quickly. He has got 5 T20I fifties and a high score of 83.
Another strong pillar of Ireland is the all-rounder, Paul Stirling. He is currently one of the most experienced players in Ireland. The Irish team will highly rely on Stirling because of his experience in T20I and domestic tournaments. He represented Ireland for around 120 T20I matches and has got 2776 runs.
The off-spinner Andy McBrine, the only spin bowler Ireland included, has 21 wickets in his name. His terrific economic rate of 6.39 will surely make India struggle. Other players like George Dockrel, the all-rounder, and Craig Young, the pace baller will be there on the list of competitors.
On the other hand, Team India focuses on players like Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Sanju Samson, and Avesh Khan for a blast. Ishan Kishan, the maximum run-scorer (206 runs), in the last series will surely make a mark in the coming series. Captain Hardik Pandya is also continuing his good form from the IPL 2022. The veteran wicket-keeper and batsman Dinesh Karthik is also an integral part of Team India with his maiden fifty in the South Africa series. Also, the series will be a break for Sanju Samson to establish himself as a pro in the T20 setup.
While the first-choice players are preparing for the England series, fielding two teams at the same time happens again with Team India. Team India can now manage both at the same time. Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie commented that “Nowadays, any Indian team you play is going to be a good team. It kind of shows the depth of Indian cricket that they can put out two teams. We couldn’t do that –there’s no way we could put out a Test team and a T20 team at the same time, we just don’t have the numbers for that”.
INDIA vs IRELAND SQUAD
INDIA
Hardik Pandya (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (VC), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi
IRELAND
Andrew Balbirnie (c), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Paul Stirling, Curtis Campher, Stephen Doheny, Lorcan Tucker, Mark Adair, George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Andy McBrine, Craig Young
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