IND vs IRE: 1st T20I PREVIEW

SA registered their 14th win in their last 13 t20is at Cuttack 2 weeks ago and won their 7th consecutive game against India across formats since the start of 2022. India's streak of 12 consecutive t20i wins was broken in all likelihood it appeared they might go on to lose the series. The team did not panick, went unchanged in both the games levelled the series 2-2. They now have a new challenge with 2 t20is against Ireland, 2 practise games and a box office series against England in next 2 weeks. The team will be led by Hardik Pandya who has grown in stature as a leader during the IPL. The series also marks the return of Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav and inclusion of Rahul Tripathi for the 1st time. VVS laxman will be filling in for India head coach Rahul Dravid.

Ireland have some exciting names. Paul Stirling, Curtis Camphor, Josh Little, Andy Balbarine, Gareth Delany. They have grown leaps and bounds as a LOI unit but haven't translated that success in t20is as they have done it in ODIs. In the past 2 years, they have won an ODI in Eng, Drew 1-1 against SA and won 2-1 against WI earlier this year. In t20is, they were out of super 12 stage in WC, later lost to USA and UAE.

Curtis Camphor is a fine all rounder, he his best remembered for his feat of taking 4 wkts in 4 balls against NED in the t20 wc. He is a former SA U 19 player. Mark Adair is a tall seam bowler, he has taken 59 wkts at an impressive economy of 7.07 and he is the 2nd quickest player to 50 t20i wickets. Craig Young is an another exciting bowler. He needs 2 wkts to complete 50 t20i wkts. Ireland have a big season ahead of them with series against Ind, NZ, SA and Afg.

Probable XI

Ireland

Paul Stirling, Andy Balbirnie (c), Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Mark Adair, Craig Young, Josh Little.

India

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

Venue

The Village, Dublin

Total T20I matches - 18
Matches won batting 1st - 7
Matches won bowling 2nd - 11

Average 1st innings score - 153
Average 2nd innings score - 136

Highest total - 252/3 by SCO v NED
Lowest total - 70/10 by IRE v IND

Head to Head

Ind leads by 3-0

Last 5 matches

Ireland LWWWL
India WWLLW

Form Update
(last 5 innings)

Key Players & Fantasy picks:

Ishan Kishan: He has the most runs for an Indian opener in first ten t20i innings (375) and scored over 80 runs against Nortje in the format with over 200 SR. So far he has shown a good intent in 3/4 games compared to the underwhelming IPL season he had. He has the most runs in PP for India in 2022.

Hardik Pandya : India's best all rounder had an outing to forget last year in IPL. Due to Injuries, Hardik had not been bowling and subsequently lost his place in the national side for these 2 reasons. This IPL was a great opportunity for him to win the trust back of the selectors and make a strong statement ahead of the t20 wc. He led from the front both with the bat and the ball in this season. He is the 4th highest run scorer in this season with 487 runs and has most 30+ scores ( 8). Did a brilliant job with the ball in the final and in few league games in Powerplay phase. In 1st t20i, he scored 31(12)* coming into bat in the 17th over. This is the 3rd time he has scored over 30 at more than 250 SR in t20is. In the 3rd game, he again chipped in with a 30 to take India towards a fighting total and repeated a similar performance by scoring a 40 odd when Ind were struggling at 90-5 at one stage.

Paul Stirling: According to the Cricviz Analyst, since the start of 2015, he strikes at 148 in the Powerplay. There have been more than 200 players to face 450+ Powerplay deliveries in that time and Stirling’s strike rate is the 17th highest. He has reached fifty 8 times in the Powerplay in T20s, which is most by a batter after Chris Gayle (10) and David Warner (9). In a T20I against West Indies, Stirling’s 67 is the highest individual score in the Powerplay in the history of T20 Internationals. Having made his debut in 2008, Stirling has a stellar record in the T20 format with 6751 runs at an SR of 143. He is also a handy off-spin bowler with 74 wickets to his name in the format. Another area which puts Stirling ahead is his ability to play spin. In all T20s and T20Is, he has scored 381 runs against right arm leg break at an impressive SR of 156. And against left arm orthodox, he strikes at 139.6 with 922 runs.

Budget picks
( Fantasy rating - 8/8.5 points )

Josh Little: CSK had signed Ireland bowler Josh Little as their net bowler for IPL 2022. He is excellent with the new ball and in the end overs. He has taken 34 wickets in 31 T20 Internationals

Wild Card

Dinesh Karthik continued from where he left in the IPL and has produced 3 cameos in the end overs including a man of the match in the last game. in 23 t20i innings batting at 5 or below, he has 7 30+ scores.

Prediction: Winners - Ind

What they said

Gareth Delany - "It'd be a cool experience to bowl to Suryakumar Yadav. He's an incredibly talented batter who can play 360 degrees and mix between power and finesse. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one of the world's best new-ball bowlers in T20 and has a very low economy rate for T20 cricket, so it would be a good challenge to go against someone of his caliber"

Andy Balbarine - "Nowadays, any Indian team you're going to play is a good team. It kind of shows the depth of Indian cricket that they can put out two teams, You know we couldn't do that - there's no way we could put out a Test team and a T20 team at the same time, we just don't have the numbers for that"

Fantasy XI