A new look Team India will embark on a fresh challenge under the leadership of fit-again Jasprit Bumrah on August 18 (Friday). The Men in Blue will compete against Paul Stirling's Ireland at The Village in Dublin in the first of three T20Is on Friday. With some of the heavy hitters missing from the tour, all eyes will be on young Indian cricketers who have earned national call-up on the back of a solid display in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The spotlight, however, will be firmly perched on skipper Bumrah, who returns to international cricket after a lengthy injury hiatus.
It will be a litmus test for the right-arm pacer and fans would hope to see Bumrah pick up things right from where he left before suffering a back injury. With Asia Cup and ODI World Cup hovering on the horizon, the veteran fast bowler's fitness might dictate India's performance in two major events.
The Mumbai Indians pacer will lead a squad comprising greenhorns with the likes of Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma yet to represent India on the international stage. Once again, the upcoming T20I series presents a golden opportunity for the Men in Blue to take one step forward towards determining the best players in the shortest format of the game, especially with the T20 World Cup scheduled to be played next year.
Weather forecast
The forecast in Dublin for Friday paints a grim picture and Bumrah's return to the big stage might get delayed. A yellow warning for rain has been sounded in Dublin for Friday. According to AccuWeather, there is a 67 percent chance of a downpour. Cricket fans around the world would hope for rain to stay away from Dublin during the match time so that they can watch Bumrah and Team India in action.
Going by the forecast, it does appear that the first T20I might see a deduction in the number of overs and the use of D/L method to determine the winner.
Squads
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Prasidh Krishna, Shahbaz Ahmed.
Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling (c), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Benjamin White, Fionn Hand, Craig Young, Theo van Woerkom, Ross Adair.
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