India won the toss and elected to bowl first
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi misses out on making his international debut
Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson will open the innings for India
India kick off their white-ball tour of Ireland and England with the 1st T20I at the Stormont Cricket Ground, Belfast, on Friday, June 26. The Shreyas-Iyer led team has decided to bowl first in the first match of the series, citing unfamiliar conditions.
This is the Indian team's first T20 assignment since their World Cup triumph more than three months ago. While the team has retained its core, the major shift has been the captaincy duties shifting from Suryakumar Yadav to Shreyas Iyer with the former losing his place in the team.
India is a much stronger T20 outfit as compared to Ireland and enjoy a hundred percent winning record against the Irish at their home. However, the biggest headache for the Men In Blue for this match was not the opposition but whether or no to induct the 15-year-old sensation into the playing XI, unsettling their already successful top-order.
India have decided to go with the top-three of Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan, who have done consistently well for the team over the past few months.
"We're going to take one match at a time. Always keep saying that you don't have to complicate things. Unfortunately, no (Vaibhav playing?). He'll get his opportunity when the time comes. For now we're going with three genuine seamers, 1 allrounder," said Shreyas Iyer on toss when asked about the selection of young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
India Vs Ireland, 1st T20I: Toss Update
India won the toss and elected to bowl first against Ireland in Belfast
India Vs Ireland, 1st T20I: Playing XIs
Ireland (Playing XI): Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w/c), Benjamin Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Liam McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Jai Moondra, Matthew Hollard
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna
