Vaibhav Sooryavanshi missed out on making his much-awaited International debut as India face Ireland in the second and final T20I of the series at Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast. Sooryavanshi had to wait for his turn as India went with the same opening combination used in the victorious T20 World Cup 2026.
Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson kept their places as the 15-year-old sensation missed out, while Ishan Kishan, another opener by nature, is slated to come in at No.3. India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first as India look to avoid a humiliating series defeat to Ireland, having lost the first match at the same venue.
“Weโre going to bowl first considering the weather conditions. It can pour any time, so we want to maximise the advantage of it,” Shreyas said at the toss. “[On what he wants his side to do differently after Fridayโs defeat while chasing] I think the trend is itโs just important to adapt to the conditions as quickly as possible.ย
“And they were pretty smart in terms of making bowling changes and also scoring off the back foot and front foot, clearing right in the front. So we must play smart cricket rather than having a set pattern and see to it that we back our instincts as well at the same time.”
India hand debuts to Shedge, Prince
India have handed Suryansh Shedge his International debut, while Prince Yadav has been given his maiden T20I cap as the Men in Blue made two changes to the team that lost the series opener by 34 runs. “Yeah, weโve got two changes. Suryansh Shedge and Prince Yadav come in. Both are making their debut. So these are the two changes weโve made. [On debutant Shedge] Heโs a powerful, destructive batter. Yes, heโs a sensational youngster who has been scoring runs in domestic cricket and also in the IPL. Heโs got a tremendous amount of experience in youth cricket. So definitely heโs performed in the A tours. So heโs getting, heโs reaping the benefits,” he said on the debuts.
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, Suryansh Shedge, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav
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