Jasprit Bumrah Returns as Captain for India's T20I Series Against Ireland

Jasprit Bumrah was announced as the captain of the Indian cricket team for the three-match T20I series against Ireland, which starts August 18.

Bumrah, who has been missing from action since the T20Is against Australia last September, returns to cricket after having undergone back surgery in March this year and took the long road to rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Bumrah attempted a comeback in January this year for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. But he was withdrawn on the eve of the ODI series opener at Guwahati, with the BCCI citing the need for him to build bowling resilience and calling the decision a precautionary measure.

Cricketnext had earlier reported Bumrah would be included in the squad.

Bumrah had missed the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia as well as the Asia Cup held last year in the UAE and did not play the entire the 2023 Indian Premier League season. This will not be Bumrah’s first stint as captain, having skippered the side in a one-off Test match last summer in England.

Ruturaj Gaikwad was appointed vice-captain with Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, and Shahbaz Ahmed have also been included.

Prasidh Krishna, who was with umrahat the NCA, has also been named in the squad. The right-arm quick last played for India in an ODI match against Zimbabwe in August last year before undergoing a surgery for stress fracture.

In fact, majority of the squad selected for the series , will be repersenting India at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

The three T20I matches between India and Ireland will be played in Malahide on August 18, 20 and 23. India and Ireland played a two-match T20I series in June 2022, with the visitors winning the series 2-0, though the hosts came close to winning.

The likes of Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Suryakumar Yadav have been rested, with the 50-over Asia Cup starting from August 30.

India’s squad for T20I series against Ireland: Jasprit Bumrah (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan

(With inputs from Agencies)