IRE vs IND: 1st T20I Preview – Hardik’s India start T20 World Cup prep

Home-side Ireland will take on the Men in Blue India in a two-match T20I series slated to start on June 26 (Sunday). To note, both matches will be played at The Village, Malahide, Dublin. The Men in Green will want to play some good cricket in front of the home ground and come out victorious in the series.

Team India will be without the services of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul among a few others which will give a perfect opportunity to Ireland to register their first-ever series victory over mighty India. It may be noted that India will be under the new leadership of skipper Hardik Pandya.

Ireland management has already announced a 14-member squad for the T20I series with two new faces in the form of Stephen Doheny and pace bowler Conor Olphert included in the squad. The home side will be led by Andrew Balbirnie and senior batter Paul Stirling will also have a key role to play in the series.

Here’s the predicted XI for Ireland vs India:

Ireland

Ireland’s team has chosen a balanced squad for the series and two of the most senior batters Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie will have a huge role to play. In bowling, Joshua Little and Mark Adair will also want to give their best.

Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie (c), Gareth Daleny, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Stephen Doheny, Andy McBrine, Curtis Campher, Joshua Little, Barry McCarthy, Mark Adair.

India

Team India will not want to make many changes to their playing XI which was used during the South Africa series. With Pant joining the senior India squad, the wicketkeeping job will be done by Dinesh Karthik.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Hardik Pandya (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal.