New Delhi. The world number 1 T20I team is ready to play a 2-match T20 series against Ireland. The first T20I match will be held this evening at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast. The second match will be played on the same ground on Sunday (June 28). There is a lot of change in the Indian team that came to play in Ireland and the team that India played in the last T20I match. The last time the Indian team played a T20 match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 8, 2026, it was the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
For the series against Ireland, the selectors made not one or two but a total of 7 changes including the captain. Shreyas Iyer got the command of the T20 team in place of Suryakumar Yadav. The team will field with a new captain and many new faces have been included in the squad. 7 such players have been selected for the Ireland tour who were not part of the T20 World Cup 2026 team.
Who came in?
Shreyas Iyer has returned to the T20I team. The right-handed batsman from Mumbai will lead Team India in this 2-match T20I series against Ireland. Iyer last played T20I for India in December 2023. He was appointed as the new T20I captain of India on 6 June 2026. Apart from Iyer, spinner Ravi Bishnoi and fast bowlers Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana have also returned to the team. Along with these, 3 uncapped players Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Prince Yadav and Suryansh Shedge have also got a chance.
Vaibhav and Prince were included in the 16-member squad announced on June 6. Suryansh Shedge was added to the team earlier this week in place of injured Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Who is out?
Captain Suryakumar Yadav, who led India to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title in March, has not got a place in the team for the Ireland series. Along with him, left-handed batsman Rinku Singh and spinner Kuldeep Yadav have also been dropped from the squad. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya were also not selected for the T20I series against Ireland. On June 6, the selectors also included Mohammed Siraj and Varun Chakraborty in the team for the Ireland tour. Now both are out of this series. Siraj has been given rest under workload management, while Varun has not yet fully recovered from the injury suffered during IPL 2026.
A look at the changes in the squad
Who came in: Shreyas Iyer, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Suryansh Shedge, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi
Who is out: Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakraborty
Out with injury: Mohammed Siraj, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Varun Chakraborty
Replacement: Prasidh Krishna, Suryansh Shedge
In T20I squad for the first time: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Prince Yadav, Suryansh Shedge
