India’s squad for T20I series against Ireland announced, Jasprit Bumrah named captain

Mumbai: Jasprit Bumrah has been named captain of India's young 15-member squad for the T20I series against Ireland.

The Men’s Selection Committee has picked India’s squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Ireland to be played in Dublin, the BCCI said in a statement.

Bumrah will make a comeback after nearly a year after he was ruled out of the T20 Asia Cup in September 2022 with a recurring back injury. He last made an appearance in India's T20I bilateral series against Australia at home.

The pacer was eventually forced to be absent from the T20 World Cup in Australia in which India crashed out of after losing the semi-final against eventual champions England.

The 29-year-old subsequently underwent successful back surgery in March this year in New Zealand with rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.

He also participated in a few practice games, with the NCA staff led by VVS Laxman satisfied with Bumrah's recovery.

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 has been named as Bumrah's deputy, while fast bowler Prasidh Krishna, who himself was being rehabilitated for a lumbar stress fracture also makes a return.

Krishna, who was out of action since the tour of Zimbabwe in August 2022, also underwent surgery in December before working towards making a return.

Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube have also got their call-ups to the squad based on their impressive performances in the IPL this year.

The majority of the squad selected for the series is the same as the one named for the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

India T20I squad: 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. (UNI)