The Indian team will be facing off against Ireland in a series of two T20Is with the first match to be played on June 26, 2022, in Dublin’s Malahide cricket club ground.
With first-choice players preparing for the England Test, BCCI picked some fresh faces with Hardik Pandya being named captain for these matches.
New faces like Rahul Tripathi received their maiden India call-up, while Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik were picked as well, despite not getting a chance to debut in India during the five-T20I series against South Africa at home.
Hardik Pandya started his India captaincy career on a good note by winning the toss in the first T20I and choosing to bowl against Ireland. While Umran Malik made his debut, it was also revealed that Deepak Hooda was listed to bat at no.3 for India with Suryakumar Yadav coming in at no.4.
Many were miffed at Sanju Samson being overlooked once again, despite being included in the India squad for this series and the fact that he did well for Rajasthan Royals at that spot in IPL 2022.
Former India pacer Ashish Nehra called Hooda coming into the XI in place of Sanju Samson a good call, pointing out that Hooda did extremely well at no.3 for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022 as well.
“No, it’s not a tough call at all. Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi has come in place of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. Deepak Hooda was already in the squad and even Venkatesh Iyer didn’t play a match against South Africa.
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And the kind of performance, Deepak Hooda did in IPL as he is one of those players who played for Rajasthan in Ranji Trophy, the whole season he scored runs, then in the IPL also. He started the tournament, playing at 5 or 6 (for LSG), and then he was promoted to number three and there also he did well. So his confidence must be high,” Nehra said on Sony Liv’s pre-match show ‘Extra Innings.’
“And it is good to see that he was in the squad before Samson arrived and he was backed before him. He is a sincere player and we know there are so many T20 games coming. And as we saw the squad was same in all five games against South Africa, he would hope that he is persisted with,” he added.
On the other hand, Virender Sehwag shared his thoughts on Umran Malik making his India debut after getting his T20I cap from Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of the toss.
“The best thing is that he (Malik) has got an opportunity to play the IPL, even if it is against Ireland. And this is not like that he got his opportunity because players are not there. He got his opportunity due to his merit.
There are very few people who bowl consistently at 150, very less. Just one or two Indian pacers have bowled 150. I don’t care if he picks wickets or not, if he bowls at 150 plus, I am sure he will be feared. When we used to tour earlier, we used to think that we don’t have the pace battery like the opposition. But now it is the exact opposite. Now, let’s see can he break Shoaib Akhtar’s record? I think he can,” Sehwag said.
(Sony Liv inputs)
