Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel had his say on the two players who can replace Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant in India's playing XI for the T20I series against Ireland.
India will play two T20Is on their tour to Ireland. The series will kick start on 26th June followed by the second match to be played on 28th. Both the games will take place at Malahide in Dublin.
The squad will be led by Hardik Pandya with Bhuvneshwar Kumar being his deputy. The squad is almost the same as the one which played the T20I series against South Africa apart from a few names.
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Since Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer are part of India’s Test squad for the final Test against England, the duo were not named in the squad for the Ireland series and have joined the senior team in England.
In their place, Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav, who was out due to injury, have been recalled to the squad and also Rahul Tripathi earned his maiden call-up.
With just a few days remaining before the commencement of the series, there are a lot of speculations about what playing XI will the visitors field in the two games. While many want Sanju Samson to be a part of the team, there also are calls regarding the inclusion of Rahul Tripathi in the team.
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Speaking to Cricbuzz, Parthiv Patel opined about India's playing XI and named 2 players who should be included ahead of Samson. He that there’s a lot of hype around keeper-batter’s comeback in the team but he wasn’t picked in the team against South Africa, which means Deepak Hooda, who was selected in the last series, should play ahead of him.
“We always talk about Sanju Samson. There's a lot of discussion about his comeback to the team. And because he's a big name, many people also want to see him play. But here, Sanju Samson was fit and he wasn't picked, which means you rate Deepak Hooda ahead of him, that's why you picked him earlier,” Parthiv said.
Patel advised the team to not get too "excited" and instead stay "consistent" on their choices by putting Venkatesh Iyer ahead of Rahul Tripathi in the pecking order for openers.
"Similarly, you talk about Venkatesh Iyer. The way Ruturaj Gaikwad has batted, if you want another opener in the position, you may have someone like Rahul Tripathi who can bat in all positions but you should play Venkatesh Iyer first. You need to give opportunity, you need to be consistent. I admit that when you make a team, you can get a little excited," he said.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
