No Sooryavanshi yet as India opt to bowl against Ireland

India national cricket team captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first against Ireland cricket team in the opening T20I in Belfast, but teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was not included in the playing XI and will have to wait for his international debut.

The match marks Iyer’s return to India’s T20I setup after 936 days, and his comeback is even more significant as he leads the side as captain. Speaking at the toss, Iyer said India’s long-term goal remains a historic third consecutive T20 World Cup title, while backing the core group that won the tournament earlier this year.

The decision to leave out 15-year-old Sooryavanshi means fans will have to wait longer to see the prodigy in international colours. If selected later in the series, he would become India’s youngest men’s international debutant.

Ireland also entered the match with a fresh leadership setup, with Lorcan Tucker captaining the side. Tucker admitted he would have preferred to chase after losing the toss.

The hosts handed debut caps to two fast bowlers:

• Jai Moondra
• Matt Hollard

India and Ireland are meeting for the ninth time in T20 internationals, with Ireland still searching for their first win over India in the format.

Playing XIs

India:
Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna

Ireland:
Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (capt & wk), Ben Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Liam McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Jai Moondra, Matt Hollard.