Amid the speculations that the Ireland-bound Indian T20I squad will feature in the three-match T20I series against England next month, it has now been reported that the full-strength Indian squad, comprising Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and others, will be available for the England series.
Team India’s tour of England is due to get underway on July 1 with the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston. After this solitary Test match, the Men in Blue will take on the hosts in three T20Is and as many ODIs.
While the T20I series will be played from July 7 to July 10, the 50-over series will be held from July 12 to July 17.
The issue with this scheduling is that if the one-off Test match goes for full five days then India’s key players like Rohit, Kohli, Bumrah, Pant among others will get just a 1-day break before the T20I series.
While there is an option of fielding the Ireland-bound squad, led by Hardik Pandya, which will play two T20Is in Dublin on June 26 and June 28, the selection committee is reportedly not keen on going this route.
“All senior players will be available for the England series. Yes, we have to carry a larger squad because of the two warm-up T20s but Rohit & Virat and other first-team players will be available,” a member of the selection committee told Insidesport.
Last week, the Chetan Sharma-led selection panel named a 17-member squad for the upcoming two-T20I tour of Ireland, which included multiple youngsters.
While Rahul Tripathi has earned his maiden India call-up, the squad also features Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Hooda among others.
“We have a set team. We just need to trim it a little for the England series to accommodate the seniors. Some of the guys will return home after the Ireland series. We will have a selection meeting soon. We will have a larger squad for contingency as the team will not be in a bio-bubble,” the selection committee member said.
