Indian Team all set to depart to Ireland on June 23rd for upcoming English tour
What's the story
A most-recent press release by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that the Indian team will travel to Ireland on 23rd June, which will mark the beginning of a full-fledged tour of Ireland and England.
The details
India is scheduled to play two T20Is against Ireland and three T20Is, three ODIs and five Tests against England. With a lot of major players rested previously, they are all set to return to the team before departure.
The squad for India playing the two T20Is against Ireland are as follows: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Siddarth Kaul and Umesh Yadav. The two games are scheduled for the 27th and 29th of June, respectively.
India's English tour begins on July 3rd, with the three T20Is and three ODIs finishing by the end of the month. The series of five tests against the same opposition begins on 1st August.
Shreyas Iyer replaces Manish Pandey in the ODI squad for England while the latter returns back in the T20I squad. The squad for Test matches have not been announced yet.
In case you didn't know...
India are fresh from a very authoritative win over minnows Afghanistan in what was their first ever Test match, as the game was completed with three days to spare and with the Afghans losing by a record deficit of an innings and 262 runs. Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were a few of the best performers for the Indian contingent.
England, meanwhile are fresh from the humongous wins over Australia in the ongoing ODI series. They have already claimed the series, winning the first three games out of the five in total. They have given Australians a tough pounding on each occasion played so far, and even went on to score 481 runs in the most recent game - thereby setting the record for the highest ever men's ODI total. Their batsmen are in the form of their lives. The bowlers were on fire too, restricting Aussie batsmen from scoring freely.
Ireland played their first ever Test match earlier this month against Pakistan, which they lost, though not in the same magnitude as Afghanistan. They put up a spirited display in their second innings to make amends for a first-inning fail and bowled well to defend a low total, but in the end, it was Pakistan who prevailed. Despite the loss, the Irish will be looking to put up a more commanding performance as India visits them at their own home.
What's next
With the uncertainty of the yo-yo tests looming large on many players, the position of most players were hanging on a balance despite being selected into the squads that have already been named. With a majority of them clearing the tests, they have reinforced their presence in the squads. Ambati Rayudu was one major player who did not clear the test. He was hence removed from the squad. Rohit Sharma was reported to be on the verge of exclusion too, but he managed to clear the Yo-yos on June 20th, thereby making himself safe.
Amidst wide discussions about the feasibility of yo-yo tests as a standard for player selection, the squads will soon move to England at the back of their yo-yo success where they have the window to show if their selections were justified or not.