IND squad for IRE series: India announced a 15-men squad for the Ireland T20I series on Monday. The team saw a sea of changes to their squad in comparison to the team that will take on West Indies in a T20I series starting on August 3. Shortest format skipper Hardik Pandya and his deputy for the Windies series Suryakumar Yadav have been rested. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah makes the much-awaited comeback to the Indian team. He will be leading the Men in Blue in the three-match contest against the Irish team starting on August 18.
Notably, there are eight changes made to the squad announced for the Ireland T20Is that will take on West Indies in the 20-over series. Apart from Pandya and Suryakumar, the likes of Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are not picked for the Ireland series. These eight players are in the squad for West Indies T20Is.
New players picked for Ireland series
There are eight new entrants in the series. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Prasidh Krishna have been included in the Ireland series. Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma are the only uncapped Indians included in the squad. Both earn another India call-up as they are also part of the Asian Games cricket squad.
Notably, Jasprit Bumrah’s comeback was one of the most awaited things in Indian cricket. He comes back from a long back injury break, having last played a T20I in September 2022 against Australia. Prasidh Krishna is also back in the team after a recovery from his own back injury. Chennai Super Kings pinch hitter Shivam Dube earns an India re-call, while Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Ahmed will also be making a return.
As usual, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli continue to remain absent from the T20Is after the T20 World Cup 2022 due to workload management in an ODI World Cup year. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer could not make it in time for the Irish series, while Rishabh Pant remains far from action than these two. The first T20I between India and Ireland begin on August 18.
India squad for Ireland series: Jasprit Bumrah (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan