Indian Premier League winning captain Hardik Pandya was named the captain of the Indian cricket team for the two-match T20I series against Ireland. The only new face in the team is Maharashtra batsman Rahul Tripathi. He was rewarded for his excellent performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Rahul Tripathi had scored more than 400 runs for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022. VVS Laxman will lead the coaching staff for the Indian team’s tour of Ireland.
In the current T20 series against South Africa, the vice-captain Hardik Pandya has been given the captaincy. He will join the Test team in England after the home series. Sanju Samson, who took Rajasthan Royals to the IPL 2022 final, is back in the team. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be the vice-captain of the team.
Dinesh Karthik, 36, will be the wicketkeeper but both Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson can keep wickets if needed. Team India has to play two T20 International matches in Ireland on 26 and 28 June. Both matches will be played at The Village Ground in Dublin. These matches will start at 9 pm Indian time.
Indian T20 squad selected for Ireland tour: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice Captain), Ishan Kishan, Rituraj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
For the 5-match T20 series against South Africa, the command of Team India was given to KL Rahul earlier. Rishabh Pant was the vice captain of the team. Before the first T20 match, KL Rahul was ruled out of the entire series due to injury. After this Rishabh Pant was given the command of Team India and Hardik Pandya was made the vice-captain. 28-year-old Hardik Pandya recently led Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 and became champions.
Actually, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer will leave for England after the T20 series against South Africa. Both of them are part of Team India selected for the only Test match against England. In such a situation, Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi have been included in the T20 team in their place for the tour of Ireland. Sanju Samson scored 374 runs in IPL 2022 at a strike rate of 147.24. Under his leadership, Rajasthan Royals played the final of the tournament for 14 years.