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Ireland will host India for a T20I series starting on June 26 at the Malahide Cricket Club. This is the Men in Blue's first tour of the European country since 2018.
The two-game series finds India in an in-between spot as they rifle through various teams and conditions to prepare for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. The visitors are neither too far from the marquee tournament to blindly experiment with combinations, nor too close to it to play a first-choice team everywhere.
While the seniors will want game time to find their rhythm and gain some momentum, the young IPL stars will require international exposure to even be reserves in Australia. The series, albeit a tiny one, will challenge the new coaching staff (as Rahul Dravid and Co. will be in England) to find the right balance between all the scenarios and demands.
Considering these dilemmas, below we look at how the playing 11 might shape up for the first T20I.
India's predicted 11 for 1st T20I against Ireland
The squad only has a few changes from the one currently taking on South Africa in a T20I series at home. Rishabh Pant, who was the captain in KL Rahul's absence, and Shreyas Iyer have been rested, while Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi have all been added. Hardik Pandya will be the interim leader.
Openers: Rahul Tripathi and Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ishan Kishan, who has opened the innings with Ruturaj Gaikwad in the first three T20Is against South Africa, has looked in good touch. Barring any injury, he's certain to continue for the remaining two matches, taking his tally to 24 T20s for India and Mumbai Indians (MI) combined this year.
Kishan has now all but staked his claim to retain his spot as the reserve opener in India's World Cup squad. If the team management truly wants to test its bench strength and give deserving players a chance, there won't be a better opportunity to throw Rahul Tripathi into the ring in place of Kishan.
Tripathi was simply brilliant for SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2022. For Indian top-order batters (at least five matches), Tripathi's strike rate of 158.24 for his 413 runs was the best in the season. He carried the batting line-up on more than one occasion through impactful performances.
Although he batted at No. 3 for the entire season, Tripathi is experienced and capable of taking the opener's job. Unless Kishan looks completely clueless in the remaining two T20Is against South Africa, this is a calculated risk India can and should take.
As for his partner, Gaikwad has had fewer chances than Kishan in India colors and hasn't looked in his best touch against the Proteas so far, despite a half-century in the third T20I. But he's a superb talent who can be trusted to get there with more game time. His style of play will compliment Tripathi's unrestrained aggression. The duo will compete for a spot behind Kishan in the opening pecking order.
Middle order: Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav and Dinesh Karthik (wk)
Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav, both of whom had an excellent IPL, should take the No. 3 and No. 4 spot, respectively.
Suryakumar's recent form has made him almost a certain candidate for the World Cup. He can bat anywhere in the order, but with Virat Kohli likely to take the one-down spot and No. 4 being an Achilles' heel for India for a long time, he's likely to take the latter position. Samson will be happier to take No. 3 as well, considering his IPL record is also much better at that position than at No. 4.
Both are brilliant players of pace and spin and will showcase India's firepower in Ireland. However, India will want to observe how sharp Suryakumar is after the injury and whether Samson can finally recreate his talent for the national team.
In the absence of Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik is likely to keep wickets. Although Tripathi, Kishan, Samson and even Gaikwad are capable of doing the same, Karthik is in more direct competition with Pant for the middle-order spot in the World Cup and the team will want him to have as much time as possible with the gloves.
And while we have picked him at No. 5, his batting position will likely interchange between No. 5 and 6 - or even 7 as we saw on Sunday - depending on the match situation. He was a top-class finisher for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022 and has shown glimpses of that against South Africa too. The Ireland series will present an opportunity to take that to the next level with more consistency.
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya (c) and Axar Patel
This will be Hardik Pandya's first series as Team India captain, a much deserved step-up after his stunning title-winning charge at Gujarat Titans (GT) this year. Although he played as a floater in the IPL, switching between No. 3 and 4 positions, his wiggle room is likely to be limited between No. 5 and 6 against Ireland, with Samson and Suryakumar both capable of taking the ultra-aggressive route in the middle and death overs.
Team India might also expect Pandya to deliver four overs in both games - something they will necessarily need in pacy conditions Down Under.
The second all-rounder would likely be Axar Patel. Ideally, India could have tested a two wrist-spinner combination by playing Pandya as the only all-rounder and trusting the other bowlers' ability to score some more runs. But it's unlikely.
Axar, in this series, will be a backup to Ravindra Jadeja, who has a brilliant batting record in Australia and will likely start in the World Cup. Playing Jadeja or Axar at No. 7 will allow Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli to be more expressive at the top. Moreover, the duo's left-arm off-spin might not be as aggressive an option as picking a leggie like Ravi Bishnoi, but it can do the job on long boundaries in Australia.
Bowlers: Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Arshdeep Singh
A bowling attack comprising Avesh Khan, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh, with the latter two being debutants, is a tempting proposition.
But India have retained Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel in the squad for a reason. Kumar is injury prone and has only recently picked up a consistent run of form which the management won't want to hamper. Harshal, meanwhile, brings a unique skillset to the table and will probably get more chances to build on his IPL seasons and cement his name for the World Cup team.
Avesh Khan's position is one that can be experimented with. Another IPL star, Khan has had a middling South Africa series so far with a combination of expensive and brilliant spells, though with no wickets to show for either.
He admittedly hasn't got much time to prove himself either, but India will desperately want to test one of Arshdeep and Umran against Ireland. While Arshdeep, a left-handed seamer, swings the new ball and even competes with Jasprit Bumrah for his death-over prowess, Umran, a right-hander, is an untiring maestro in the middle overs and can rattle batters with his express pace and bounce.
Both skills are gold in Australian conditions, but Dravid can only choose only one youngster. Arshdeep's superior experience, a more refined arsenal, and a more consistent IPL resume might just give him the edge over Umran.
