India to take on Ireland to kick off English season

Its the dress rehearsal before the the actual test but India would do well not to let the guard down when they take on a lowly but effervescent Ireland in a twomatch T20 rubber starting tomorrow The games will mark the onset of a long summer for the Indian team with sterner tests against England to follow this short series in Malahide on the outskirts of Dublin England have just hammered Australia in an ODI series and most of their top players are in sublime formPerhaps it was a marker of this crucial impending assignment that India decided to stay on and practice in London on Monday While the contingent had arrived from Delhi on Saturday this was a first training session ontour held at the Merchants Taylor School cricket groundReportedly the players were split into three groups while practicing all facets of the game Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar headed the pace group along with allrounder Hardik Pandya while a few others practised fielding drills Among batsmen openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan enjoyed a first stint togetherSkipper Virat Kohli and the inform KL Rahul batted together in adjacent nets against spin and pace respectively While Rahul has been a constant part of the T20I squad Ajinkya Rahanes omission from the ODI squad means that he is once again a contender for the number four spot when the threematch series against England begins on July 12Since the tour of South Africa this is the first time a fullstrength Indian team will be seen in action Kohli Bhuvneshwar Kumar Jasprit Bumrah and MS Dhoni were rested for the T20 triseries in Sri Lanka in March The former trio also missed the oneoff Test against Afghanistan in Bengaluru recentlyWith Rahul in contention for a starting spot in the middle order Manish Pandey Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik will be left jostling for two spots As part of the fullstrength Indian side the three had featured in the T20 series against South Africa Raina had been used as a pinchhitting aggressive number three option but the current situation might warrant a rethinkNevertheless Raina provides a sixth bowling option as well India would also not want to drop Dinesh Karthik who is in sizzling form since March It could mean that Pandey eventually warms the bench despite scoring 255 runs in 8 T20Is this year against South Africa Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at an average of 85On the bowling front Kohli will be tempted to field both legspinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav giving them an early taste of conditions here However the pace department is an area of concern as the secondchoice fast bowlers have not enjoyed enough game timeSince the 2017 Champions Trophy India have played 32 ODIs and 18 T20Is with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah handling the new ball in 26 ODIs and 9 T20Is respectively Umesh Yadav last played an ODI in September 2017 against Australia at Bengaluru Siddharth Kaul was in the Indian squad for the home ODIs against Sri Lanka in December but was not picked ahead of KumarBumrahKaul is also yet to make his T20I debut while Yadav played his only T20I back in 2012 It remains to be seen if the think tank will bench either Kumar or Bumrah against Ireland to give other pacers some much needed overs India and Ireland do not have a rich playing history Despite touring England in 2011 and 2014 this is the Men in Blues first visit here since 2007 when they played a solitary ODI at BelfastRohit Dhoni and Karthik were part of that squad albeit Karthik was picked ahead of Dhoni in the playing eleven for that oneoff game Overall India and Ireland have played only four times in three ODIs the other two during 2011 and 2015 ODI World Cups and a T20I in 2009 during the World T20 in EnglandIndia had won that game at Nottingham by eight wickets with Rohit scoring an unbeaten halfcentury Dhoni and Raina are the other current members from that playing eleven nine years ago For Ireland skipper Gary Wilson former captain William Porterfield and allrounder Kevin OBrien are the ones to have T20 experience against an Indian team Meanwhile 31yearold Punjabborn offspinner Simranjit Singh will enjoy the spotlight of playing against his erstwhile nationTeamsIndia Virat Kohli c Rohit Sharma Shikhar Dhawan KL Rahul Manish Pandey Suresh Raina Dinesh Karthik MS Dhoni wk Hardik Pandya Kuldeep Yadav Yuzvendra Chahal Bhuvneshwar Kumar Jasprit Bumrah Umesh Yadav Siddarth KaulIreland Gary Wilson c amp wk Andrew Balbirnie Peter Chase George Dockrell Josh Little Andy McBrine Kevin OBrien William Porterfield Stuart Poynter Boyd Rankin James Shannon Simi Singh Paul Stirling Stuart Thompson Match starts at 830 pm ISTAlso Read Sachin Tendulkar On Team India Most Complete Fast Bowling Unit EverCatch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without 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