Cricket: India will face Ireland in the 3rd T20I at Dublin

Despite the minor blip in the tricky run chase in the opening T20I, it was no surprise that India were back to their best in the second game which helped them take an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Now that the series is secure, the final T20I can be used as an opportunity to hand game time to the fringe players. Both teams went into the second game with an unchanged XI, which is unlikely to be the case now.

The visitors are expected to stick to the batting lineup with no reserve batter available. The team management would anyway want the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma to play as much as possible given all three will be in the frame to make it to the World Cup next year.

However, with Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar not making much of an impact in the two games, there could be space for the likes of Shahbaz Ahmed and Jitesh Sharma to come into the XI. Jitesh in particular has been mighty impressive in the IPL over the last two seasons and will be itching to finally make his international debut, which might come as a pure batter if the team management decides to give Sanju Samson another outing.

In the bowling department, even though Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna have bigger goals to focus on given they were picked in the squad for the Asia Cup, they would still most likely prefer getting more games under the belt having just returned to the national setup. That might keep Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan in the bench once again unless Arshdeep Singh makes way for one of them.

The hosts will also have some selection calls to make especially with Harry Tector going through a dull run. Ross Adair, who made his debut earlier this year, is an exciting batter with an impressive strike rate of over 150 in T20 cricket. And if George Dockrell isn’t going to bowl, Gareth Delany might fancy his chances.

Squads:

Ireland Squad: Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling(c), Lorcan Tucker(w), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Craig Young, Joshua Little, Benjamin White, Gareth Delany, Fionn Hand, Ross Adair, Theo van Woerkom

India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah(c), Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Jitesh Sharma, Avesh Khan