India eye win in the first T20I against Ireland as they begin the tour of Ireland and England
Date and Time : 4:00 PM (Local)
Venue : The Village, Dublin
India are overwhelming favorites to win this match but they need to avoid complacency. We need to understand that Ireland is now a Test nation and their cricket is on the up.
Team India though will just need to play normal cricket and given their current form should be able to pull off a victory in foreign conditions. India are ranked third in the world in T20I format.
On the other hand, Ireland know they are up against it but that also means they have no pressure on them and this could bring the best out of them.
To upset India they will have to bring their A game into play and use their home conditions. It’s a learning curve for them.
So far India and Ireland have just played each other once before, a game which India won.
Team news and possible line-ups
Gary Wilson will captain Ireland against India on Wednesday. While Simi Singh is available and might play.
As for India, they will probably rest a few of their key players given a long and important England tour up next. That means the likes of Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will make way for Umesh Yadav and Siddarth Kaul.
Ireland XI : Porterfield, Sterling, Wilson (C), S. Singh, K. O’Brien, Dockrell, Rankin, Balbirnie, Shannon, McBrine, S. Thompson.
India XI : R. Sharma (C), Dhawan, Raina, Rahul, Dhoni, Pandya, D. Karthik, Sundar, Chahal, U. Yadav, Kaul.
Prediction
I expect India to get a routine win here.
