All eyes will be on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi when India take on Ireland in the first T20I of the two-match series in Belfast on Friday (June 26). Sooryavanshi forced his way into the T20I team following his dream run in IPL 2026. The 15-year-old piled up 776 runs in only 16 matches. His tally included 72 sixes and 63 fours. He breached the 100-run mark once. India didn’t make many changes to their T20 World Cup-winning squad and retained all the openers who were part of the team. Hence, the chances of Sooryavanshi making his debut are unlikely. Ahead of the India-Ireland first T20I, Aakash Chopes picked his playing XI for the series opener.
The noted commentator didn’t include Sooryavanshi in the playing XI and retained the opening combination of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson. He picked Ishan Kishan to bat at number three. Kishan will be followed by Shreyas Iyer.
Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel and Harshit Rana were four all-rounders in Chopra’s team. He picked Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna as the two pacers. Ravi Bishnoi was the sole frontline spinner in the team.
Aakash Chopra’s playing XI for first T20I vs Ireland
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Ravi Bishnoi
No debut for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi?
Speaking to the media on the eve of the first T20I, India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak might have to wait for his debut. Kotak said that Sooryavanshi will get his opportunities and it won’t be right to drop an in-form player to give Sooryavanshi an opportunity.
“I am sure that he will get his dues and his opportunities. So I don’t think that just to give him an opportunity, we should drop someone who has already been scoring runs. That also won’t be right. Obviously, it depends on the team management… what we plan to do in this match. That is a different thing. But I think it is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you being unfair to some other player,” Kotak said.
The two India-Ireland T20Is are scheduled to be played on June 26 and 28. Following the Ireland T20I series, the Men in Blue will land in England for five T20Is and three ODIs.
