New look India seek greener pastures in Dublin

"Nowadays, any Indian team you play is going to be a good team. It kind of shows the depth of Indian cricket that they can put out two teams,” said Andrew Balbirnie during the pre-match press conference on Friday. 

India’s depth across formats in the sport is scary. Under the leadership of Hardik Pandya, India will be aiming to register a series win in Ireland. It is the biggest opportunity yet for some of the players in the squad, including Hardik, who will be captaining the country. Rahul Tripathi might make his debut, Sanju Samson can return and so will Suryakumar Yadav, who will feature for the first time since his injury during the IPL.

Read: This summer is going to be a defining period for Ireland Cricket: Heinrich Malan

Ireland aren’t to be taken lightly. Although they have lost all three against India, they will still walk into this encounter with some confidence. The Green and Whites have won three out of their last four clashes, albeit it being against the UAE. 

While they will start only with an outside chance, breakthrough star Curtis Campher is confident that the Irish side could use the ‘underdogs’ tag to pull off a win against India. 

A look at India’s batting future

While India showed a glimpse of the immediate future in the series against South Africa, the series against Ireland allows a look into the future. Pairing Tripathi and Suryakumar alongside Samson and Pandya could very well be India’s mainstay for a long time.

Read: Rahul Tripathi serves a timely reminder to Indian selectors

Tripathi is one of the only two Indians to score 500+ runs, average above 30 with a strike-rate of above 150 since IPL 2021. In the same time-frame, the right-hander has a strike-rate of 137.9 against spin, while maintaining a strike-rate of 155.6 against pace. He is as perfect as India could get to an all-round batter in the middle-order. 

Pairing Tripathi alongside Suryakumar will solve India’s issues against spin, and also provide a platform for the likes of Pandya and Samson, both excellent against pace to take charge. It would also be a prime opportunity for Samson, the Indian player, to show his merit having once again aced the IPL challenge.

Few years down the line, this could be India’s middle-order, given how all of them have married firepower with consistency over the years. And the Ireland series could give us a first-look at this line-up. 

Paul Stirled, not shaken

Even though he hasn’t played the IPL, Paul Stirling is easily amongst the top-five T20 openers around the world. For openers with at least 40 T20 appearances since 2021, Stirling has the second-best strike-rate, at 142.2. He scores a boundary every 4.6 deliveries, and has an unmatched aura opening the innings in world cricket.

In T20Is as well, Stirling is the third highest-run scorer since 2021, amongst the top Test playing nations, with a strike-rate of 121.7. He’s Ireland’s leading run scorer in the shortest format, with 2725 runs, averaging 29.62. And his biggest challenge in the last few years of T20Is would be facing up against Avesh Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Read: Curtis Campher: Will be interesting to see how I go against Bhuvneshwar Kumar

In 48% of the innings, Stirling has been dismissed within the powerplay. And he would face Bhuvneshwar, who has a solid record in the powerplay, with 33 wickets at an average of 23.6. Not just that, this is the Indian pacer’s best year in T20Is during the powerplay, with seven wickets, averaging just 11.9. 

So, the test for Stirling is big but if he could go past that, it could give Ireland a real opportunity. 

An opportunity finally for Arshdeep and Umran?

While Avesh Khan got the nod for all the five T20Is, to partner Bhuvneshwar and Harshal Patel, will we see a change in the bowling setup? The venue in Malahide is a pacer’s paradise, with 116 wickets accounting to 66.3% of the dismissals. That then provides VVS Laxman and his management with the perfect opportunity to ease in the likes of Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik.

Given that Bhuvneshwar is expected to play both the fixtures, India could benefit from either of Arshdeep or Umran. Arshdeep isn’t a top-tier wicket-taker like Harshal or Avesh but he provides something very different with the ball. The left-arm pacer, not just with his use of angle or crease, keeps a regular check on the scoring rate.

In 37 overs at the death, Arshdeep has an economy rate of 8.5, conceding a boundary only every 7.2nd delivery, with 59 dots in the IPL since 2021. Umran, on the other hand, is unique in his own realm, with the ability of cracking the 150-mark every time he walks out to bowl. While he had a struggle in the first half, his sparkling form since then has brought him to the Indian setup. 

Team Combination and Predicted XI

"We want to give opportunity to people but want to play our best XI as well. There will be situation where there will be a couple of caps given but more than anything, it's about making sure that we have the best XI," said Indian skipper Hardik, which signals one of the two could make their debut on Sunday. 

India XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Tripathi/ Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan 

Ireland, on the other hand, will be bolstered by the return of Curtis Campher, from their last T20I clash way back in February. 

Ireland XI: Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie (c), Gareth Delany, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Andy McBrine, Simi Singh, Curtis Campher, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little