Tripathi earns maiden national call-up, Hardik to lead India in Ireland T20Is

On Wednesday (June 15), the All-India Senior Selection Committee named a 17-man squad for the two-match T20I series against Ireland to be played on June 26 and 28 at Malahide. 

The top-order batter Rahul Tripathi has finally earned a maiden call-up to the Indian side. He played a single fixture in the 2021/22 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and scored 66. In the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), Tripathi emerged as the second highest run-scorer of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team with 413 runs in 14 games at a strike rate of 158.23, with three fifties. 

The all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been chosen as the leader of the Indian team in the absence of key players like Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, who will be with the Test squad for a one-off Test fixture against England. Pandya has been given the opportunity due to his success with Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022. 

Suryakumar Yadav has recovered from the injury he sustained during the IPL, and Sanju Samson has been called back to the T20I team as well. 

The young pacers, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh, have retained their place in the squad and are likely to get an opportunity in this series. The experienced Dinesh Karthik is likely to don the wicket-keeping gloves in this series. 

The spinner Kuldeep Yadav is still recovering from a hand injury and is not named in the squad. On the other hand, KL Rahul is doubtful for the England Tour as well due to a side strain injury. 

The Ireland series will certainly be a medium for the selectors in testing the bench strength for the T20 World Cup scheduled later in the year. 

Currently, the Indian team has been hosting South Africa for a five-match T20I series, with the visitors leading the series 2-1. 

After losing the first two games, India made a fighting comeback to win the third game by 48 runs. The 4th T20I will be played at Rajkot on June 17. 

India’s T20I squad: Hardik Pandya (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik