India takes on Ireland for the 2 match T20 series from today and kickstart their preparation for the T20 World Cup.
On one hand, India under a new captain in Hardik Pandya will look to sort out who are the players that will board the plane to Australia. There are plenty of options available for Team India and finding the ultimate squad out of them will be a challenging task for stand-in coach VVS Laxman and Co especially when the seniors return back to the squad.
Ireland on the other hand are going through a lean patch and are without any significant win in the last 36 months barring a series win against Zimbabwe. Also they would be without Kevin o Brien and Tim Murtagh, who both have retired. Ireland has some decent T20 players who play all across the globe and gelling them together will be a tough ask for Andre Balbirne.
Pitch Report: The Village, Dublin has been a high scoring venue with an average score of 165 in the last 10 Men T20s.
India have played 2 and won 2 at this venue. Both the games were played back in 2018. Ireland ironically have won only 3 of their 11 games played here. India were able to breach the mark of 200 twice in those 2 games.
Head to Head: India enjoys a 3-0 unbeaten lead against Ireland in T20s.
Venue Performers:
India.
Yuzvendra Chahal: 6w (2 Matches).
Hardik Pandya: 38 runs, 1w (2 Matches).
Ireland.
Andre Balbirne: 262 runs (Highest Run Getter).
George Dockrell: 8w (3rd highest Wicket Taker).
Squads:
India squad:
Hardik Pandya (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Dinesh Karthik (Wk), Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi
Ireland squad:
Andrew Balbirnie (C), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Paul Stirling, Curtis Campher, Stephen Doheny, Lorcan Tucker (Wk), Mark Adair, George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Craig Young.
Probable Playing Xi:
India are likely to maintain the same structure of the team that played against South Africa with Suryakumar Yadav and Samson comes in for Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant respectively. One amongst Umran Malik or Arshdeep Singh may get a look in place of Avesh Khan.
India: Gaikwad, Kishan, Suryakumar, Samson, Hardik, Karthik, Axar, Bhubaneswar, Harshal, Chahal, Avesh/Umran/Arshdeep.
Ireland will love to field the all-rounders in their sides which means the likes of Adair, Campher, Delany get automatically picked along with Dockrell. A likely toss up between Barry McCarthy and Craig Young for the third seamer slot.
Ireland: Stirling, Balbirne, Delany, Tucker, Tector, Dockrell, Campher, Adair, Mcbrine, McCarthy, Little.
Players to Watch out for:
Surya Kumar Yadav: Coming back from injury Surya Kumar would love to stamp his authority in this series as Shreyas Iyer failed to make his mark. He will love the small grounds in Ireland as his unorthodox batting will fetch him runs for sure.
Yuzvendra Chahal: With 6 wickets from 2 games, Chahal can be the ultimate trump card in this series.
Joshua Little: A left arm pacer who can bring the ball in at a decent pace, Little will be an important player in this series if Ireland looks to dominate Indian batsmen from the word go.
Paul Stirling: Stirling has blown hot and cold after his 50 in last months' provisional T20 Cup and would love to score some quick runs upfront.
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