Indian cricket team will target a return to winning ways when they take on Ireland in the first T20I match at Dublin's The Village Ground on Friday, August 18. The world no.1 T20I team suffered a shock 3-2 series defeat against West Indies but remains favourites against the 12th-ranked Irish side.
All eyes will be set on Jasprit Bumrah's return to action after spending 11 months on the sidelines due to injury. The star pacer is named captain to lead the young Indian side in the three-match series with the likes of Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma in line to make their international cricket.
But Bumrah's much-talked comeback is facing a weather threat as there is a strong forecast for rain during the game time. The match is scheduled to kick off at 3:00 PM local time (7:30 PM IST) and there are 67% chances of precipitation at the beginning of the game according to a weather report from the Accuweather website.
A yellow warning for rain in Dublin is already issued for August 18 which suggests a potential delay in the match. Rain is set to play a spoilsport which will threaten Bumrah's comeback to pitch as well.
The 29-year-old pacer is expected to make India's squad for the Asia Cup 2023 and needs a match-fitness to boost India's pace attack. He has shown great signs of full recovery in the practice sessions at NCA and prior to the upcoming game, but will target to bowl maximum overs during the Ireland tour to get back in rhythm.
India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Prasidh Krishna, Shahbaz Ahmed
Ireland Squad: Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling (c), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Benjamin White, Fionn Hand, Craig Young, Theo van Woerkom, Ross Adair
