Ireland announces their 15-member squad for T20Is against India

The preparation for the ODI World Cup 2023 is underway as after India now Ireland have also announced their team for the upcoming T20 series. The world's top T20 international team, India, will be faced by the 15-member Ireland Men's squad in a three-match series in Malahide from August 18–23, 2023.

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Although the majority of the squad consists of the players who successfully qualified for the 2024  Men's T20 World Cup last week, the selectors have recalled Leinster Lightning all-rounder Fionn Hand and have included Gareth Delany, who is making his comeback from an injury sustained in June in Zimbabwe when he broke his wrist.

The series is the national team's first T20 match since gaining qualifying for the T20 World Cup, and as such, it is being viewed as an important component of the strategic preparation for that competition, which is set to take place in June 2024.

The chief selector of the Ireland cricket, Andrew White said that the recent qualifying campaign in Scotland was the first stage of our strategic planning for next June’s T20 World Cup. The Irish team have around 15 T20Is, which are scheduled before the World Cup, so it is very essential that the team uses each of these so that they can continue building on areas that the coaching team also have recognized.

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“Giving opportunities to players also filters down the series themselves, so I would expect that all of the 15 players named in the India series squad will feature at some point. The Indian side arriving in Ireland is an exciting one for the supporters, but as we showed last year, we have the talent and confidence to match them on the field of play and we have high hopes for another fiercely contested series,” White added.

Playing against India will be a challenge

The chief selector also went on to say that playing the number one ranked T20I, India will definitely be a challenge despite the team lacking many big names in the squad. It is also to remember that Jasprit Bumrah, who is returning to international cricket after the injury would be leading the Indian side on this tour.

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“So, while the immediate task at hand for Heinrich and the leadership team is on the India challenge, we are definitely framing this series as an important component of a longer-term plan to be ready to take on the world’s best at the T20 World Cup next year,” the chief selector said.

Ireland Squad

Paul Stirling (C), Andrew Balbirnie, Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Fionn Hand, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Theo van Woerkom, Ben White, Craig Young