3 players who were unlucky to miss out on India's T20I squad for the Ireland series
Jasprit Bumrah will make his comeback from injury soon. The fast bowler has been named India's skipper for the three-match T20I series against Ireland, which will take place at The Village in Dublin in August.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, who will captain the Men in Blue in the Asian Games 2023, has been announced as Bumrah's deputy. The squad features three uncapped players in Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma, with the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Shivam Dube making their return to the national side for varying reasons.
India squad for T20Is in 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.
The squad has been met with a decent amount of approval from fans, with the selectors adopting a bold approach in the absence of the biggest names. At the same time, however, a few names can consider themselves unfortunate to have been ignored for the assignment.
Here are three players who were unlucky to miss out on India's T20I squad for the Ireland series.
#3 Nitish Rana
India have picked quite a few left-handers in their squad for the Ireland T20Is. Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top of the order, the Men in Blue can call upon Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Washington Sundar in the middle.
So it's somewhat understandable that they didn't want to pick Nitish Rana, especially when Tilak and Dube are established hitters of spin among the aforementioned names. At the same time, though, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter can consider himself unlucky to have missed out yet again.
Rana had a decent 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign for KKR and has notched up two fifties in four innings of the ongoing Deodhar Trophy. He has also rolled his arm over in four matches, registering a four-wicket haul against Central Zone.
As one of the few Indian batters capable of contributing a few overs, Rana is unfortunate to have missed out on the squad for the Ireland T20Is.
#2 Prithvi Shaw
This is perhaps the lowest point of Prithvi Shaw's career. The young opener endured a miserable IPL 2023 season for the Delhi Capitals (DC), after which he was even discarded from the Deodhar Trophy squad.
Shaw shouldn't be judged too harshly, though. He has a List A average of 52.54 and a T20 strike rate of 150.29, having proven his worth in both white-ball formats in the past. The 23-year-old is still extremely destructive, even if his recent form hasn't suggested that.
India haven't picked any specialist backup openers for the Ireland T20Is. With Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul missing, they have only Ruturaj Gaikwad and Jaiswal to take on the new ball. Shaw would've been a capable alternative.
#1 Varun Chakaravarthy
This is a harsh one to take. India have picked only one specialist spinner in their squad for the Ireland T20Is in Ravi Bishnoi. The other two tweakers, Sundar and Shahbaz, are all-rounders who have been selected on the back of their batting ability.
With Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal rested, why didn't the selectors consider bringing back Varun Chakaravarthy? The talented spinner had a productive IPL 2023 campaign with KKR and also excelled for the Dindigul Dragons (DD) in the recently concluded edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL).
Chakaravarthy is clearly a changed bowler these days after a brief period of inconsistency and has all the tricks needed to succeed at the international level. More importantly, the Irish batters wouldn't have seen a lot of the spinner. He could've been a lethal weapon for the Men in Blue.