India vs Ireland: Jasprit Bumrah's return, audition of IPL stars in focus in three-match T20I series

On paper, the upcoming tour of Ireland might not appear to be the most crucial assignment for Team India, especially with some big ticket events lined up ahead of them.

The trip to Ireland takes place right after the tour of the West Indies, which ended in a rare bilateral T20I series defeat for the Men in Blue after victories in Tests and ODIs, and doesn’t feature any first-team player in the squad. Except, of course, for a leading pacer making his way back into international cricket from a career-threatening injury.

The squad isn’t even traveling with the head coach for that matter, with Sitanshu Kotak, who normally oversees the functioning of the India A team and is a batting coach at the NCA, taking over the role for the tour.

The average Indian cricket fan could therefore be forgiven for not taking the upcoming tour too seriously.

However nondescript the tour may be, it could end up having a say in shaping Indian cricket down the road. India, after all, will be travelling with the players who are seen as hopefuls for next year’s T20 World Cup that takes place in the Caribbean and the United States.

Much like the recent T20I series against the West Indies, which India ended up losing 2-3 following an eight-wicket hammering in the series-decider in Florida, the upcoming three-match T20I series against Ireland could very well be an audition of sorts.

An audition for those who have proved themselves in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and are waiting to break into the senior national team in time for ICC’s showpiece T20 event next year.

Bumrah’s comeback

The primary source of interest in the upcoming series however, will be the return of Jasprit Bumrah to action after a year-long absence. Bumrah had been dealing with back trouble since the tour of England last summer, and made a couple of appearances in a limited-overs series against Australia at home ahead of the T20 World Cup after missing out on the Asia Cup.

His back troubles however, would flare up in that assignment and it turned out to be a case of a rushed return for the pace spearhead that would cost Indian cricket dearly ever since.

After a surgery on his back in New Zealand in March, Bumrah would undergo extensive rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, where he would start bowling at full intensity in the days leading up to the squad announcement.

Given he will be the seniormost player in the squad, Bumrah has been appointed skipper — a role he isn’t entirely unfamiliar with. However, keeping in mind the possibility of his physical troubles rearing its head again during the series, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee has opted to name wicketkeeper-batter Ruturaj Gaikwad as his deputy.

While the rest of the players will be auditioning for places in India’s first-team in the shortest format, Bumrah will essentially be undergoing a litmus test as far as his physical fitness is concerned. How he is able to cope with the demands of international cricket after a year will be a major influence in the selectors’ decision to pick him in the World Cup squad.

Read | Focus on Bumrah’s road to WC as selectors pick squad with eye on future

Additionally, the series will also be featuring a number of IPL stars such Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma, who are yet to get a whiff of international cricket.

While Rinku’s exclusion from the squad for the West Indies T20Is did raise some eyebrows, the Kolkata Knight Riders middle-order batter did get named in the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led squad for the Asian Games. Eventually the powers-that-be decided to hand him and several others an opportunity even earlier by naming him in the Ireland squad.

The tour also includes a few players who made quite the impact in the Caribbean — opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, middle-order batter Tilak Varma and pacer Mukesh Kumar, all of whom are likely to play at least a couple of games in the tour if not all three.

Ireland too looking at the big picture

It’s not just India who will be building towards the big event next year. Hosts Ireland failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup in India this year after falling short in the Qualifier in Zimbabwe last month, but are very much in the picture as far as the T20 World Cup next year is concerned.

The series will be Ireland’s first in the 20-over format since sealing their spot in the mega event after finishing in the top two in the Europe Region Qualifier last month, and the board acknowledged the India series to be the start of their strategic planning towards the T20 World Cup while announcing the squad, in which all-rounders Gareth Delaney and Fionn Hand make a return to T20I side.

“While the majority of the squad reflects the playing group that successfully qualified for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup last week, the selectors have recalled Leinster Lightning all-rounder Fionn Hand and have included Gareth Delany who is returning from injury after breaking his wrist in Zimbabwe in June.

“The upcoming series is the first T20 action for the national side since securing the T20 World Cup qualification and is being treated accordingly as part of the strategic planning for that tournament scheduled for June 2024,” Cricket Ireland said in a statement on its website while announcing the squad.

Schedule:

1st T20I: 18 August in Malahide

2nd T20I: 20 August in Malahide

3rd T20I: 23 August in Malahide

Full squads:

India: Jasprit Bumrah (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, W Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan.

Ireland: Paul Stirling (captain), Andrew Balbirnie, Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Fionn Hand, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Theo van Woerkom, Ben White, Craig Young.