The Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) today officially announced the Indian cricket team’s squad for the upcoming T20 international series vs Ireland that will be played in August.
The Indian cricket team is currently in the Caribbean islands playing against the West Indies cricket in all-formats of the game. The Men in Blue led by Rohit Sharma is currently preparing for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
With the boys who are set to participate in the World Cup busy with their busy schedule, that includes a training camp for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 and the following series vs Australia and the World Cup, BCCI has selected an almost hugely rotated squad for the Ireland series.
Star pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah is returning to the team after a long sustained injury, almost after a year, and will be captaining the side with regular captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Hardik Pandya rested for the series.
Other than that, fans’ huge protest for not including Rinku Singh into the squad for the West Indies series has come to fruition as the KKR star batter has been included in the squad.
Chennai Super Kings’ Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named the vice-captain of the team while wicketkeeper batsman Jitesh Sharma has been included alongside Sanju Samson.
Pacer Prasidh Krishna is also making his return from a injury that ruled him out of the IPL 2023. Yashasvi Jaiswal continues to be a part of the squad as he is set to make his debut vs West Indies.
Arshdeep Singh would also look to cement his place in the team while Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar will also be playing in this series after making his debut vs West Indies.
Shahbaz Ahmed, Washington Sundar and Ravi Bishnoi are the spin bowlers in the team. But, despite some great picks, there are still some deserving players who were not included in the team. Let’s take a look at 5 player who were not included in the team for the series.
Nitish Rana
The Delhi batsman is one of the best left-hand middle-order batsman in the Indian cricket domestic scenes. The Delhi batter plays for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and also lead the team this season in absence of injured Shreyas Iyer. He has been consistently doing well for Delhi and KKR. Had he been given enough opportunities, Nitish would have been a perfect Suresh Raina replacement for the Indian team.
Varun Chakravarthy
Another Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player that could have been called-up to the Indian team for the Ireland series is leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy. Despite playing on a Eden Gardens pitch that very supported for batting in the IPL 2023, he displayed his magic for the Knights. His mysterious bowling has been tough to read for even the likes of Virat Kohli.
Rahul Tewatia
Another explosive batter who was overlooked for the selection is Gujarat Titans’ Rahul Tewatia. The spinner has shown immense quality in playing attacking cricket, but has been constantly kept out of the team. He has managed to take his out of losing position a number of times thanks to his batting.
Rahul Tripathi
Despite having a limited number of opportunities, former Kolkata Knight Riders and current Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Rahul Tripathi has also been overlooked for the selection. Having played 5 matches, he has scored 97 runs with a strike rate of 144. It is quite surprising to see his exclusion.
Mohit Sharma
Mohit Sharma is a name that came by surprise and took everyone by surprise with his superb bowling performance in the IPL 2023, especially with brilliant slow bowl and death over bowling. In the 14 matches he played in this edition, he took 27 wickets for Hardik Pandya led side that helped them finished top of the points table and reach the final.
The T20 International series vs Ireland begins for Team India on the 18th of August followed by on the 20th August and 23rd August.
India squad for Ireland T20Is: 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
