There will be a T20I in Malahide on Sunday, and the match will hold different meanings for the two teams contesting it.
Ireland will have an eye on the T20 World Cup as well, but this India game also represents a long-awaited chance to test themselves against marquee opposition.
Ireland will hope they can do a lot better over the coming weeks, but it’ll be a stiff challenge, because their drought of Full-Member fixtures is about to give way to something of a feast. After India, they’ll face New Zealand, South Africa and Afghanistan over the course of this home season.
Ireland LWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India WWLLW
Ireland (probable): 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 3 Gareth Delany, 4 Curtis Campher, 5 Harry Tector, 6 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 7 George Dockrell, 8 Andy McBrine, 9 Mark Adair, 10 Craig Young, 11 Josh Little.
Will India have a debutant on Sunday? “We want to give opportunity to people but want to play our best XI as well,” was Hardik’s answer to that question in his pre-match press conference. Your guess, therefore, is as good as ours.
India (probable): 1 Ishan Kishan, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.
Andy Balbirnie, the Ireland captain, expected good batting conditions. “It’s usually pretty good and it’s fairly true and you kind of get value for your shots, so I don’t really expect too much difference.”
“I don’t know if that [spin] will be the biggest weapon. I hope not because they [India] have some amazing spinners in their team. [Yuzvendra] Chahal has been very successful for India and had a really good IPL campaign”
Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie hopes conditions in Malahide won’t be too conducive to spin.