For the first time since 2018, the Ireland cricket team will host India for an international series. Later this week, fans will witness a 2-match T20I series between India and Ireland. The last time these two nations battled in a T20I series was in 2018, where the Men in Blue emerged victorious by a scoreline of 2-0.
Big names like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and KL Rahul were a part of that Indian squad. This time around, the Indian selection committee has sent a second-string squad to play the series against the Ireland cricket team. Hardik Pandya will make his international captaincy debut on June 26.
Fans can also see some new players like Rahul Tripathi, Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik making their debuts for the Indian cricket team in the series against Ireland. Before them, the following two players made their debut versus the Irish side.
1. Rohit Sharma made his ODI debut against the Ireland cricket team
Current Indian ODI captain Rohit Sharma played his career’s first ODI game against Ireland back in 2007. It was a one-off match between the two nations in 2007. Ireland received an invitation to bat first and scored 193 runs. Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla took three wickets each for India.
Chasing 171 runs off 39 overs via D/L method, India won the game in the 35th over with nine wickets in hand. Debutant Rohit Sharma did not get a chance to bat.
2. Siddarth Kaul made his T20I debut against the Ireland cricket team
Only one Indian has played the first T20I of his career against Ireland. He is Siddarth Kaul. The right-arm pacer earned his maiden national call-up after the IPL 2018 season.
Kaul did a great job for SunRisers Hyderabad in that competition. The right-arm fast bowler returned with figures of 1/4 in two overs against Ireland. His first wicket was JNK Shannon.
