Unfamiliar foes India and Ireland meet today for the second Twenty20 International at The Village,

Malahide. In the first encounter of the two nations’ first ever bilateral series, India turned out to be too
overwhelming for Ireland but in a format that lasts only a little over three hours and extends no more
beyond 240 legitimate deliveries, there is little scope to rule out a side out of contention, and even
lesser to surely back one.

While this is Ireland’s chance to push the cause for more inclusion in cricketing fixtures, India will look to
further their ruthless takedown of anyone they come across in the white ball format.

Ireland were promising in both the innings of the first T20 but lacked the intensity to persistently build
pressure on India, while their discipline eventually broke down against the opening duo of Shikhar
Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, their batting lacked the skill to take on India’s crafty wrist-spin. But they
won’t fret much about it.

Instead, a more proactive approach with some innovation can help them throw the spin duo off their
lengths, their most important asset. The bowling could do with some tune-up, especially in the spin
department and the death overs. If Boyd Rankin leads from the front and Simi Singh returns to the form
he displayed in the tri-series, they might pull things back in their favour. Expect no changes in the
playing XI.

Ireland (expected XI) Paul Stirling, William Porterfield, Andy Balbirnie, Simi Singh, Gary Wilson (capt),
Kevin O'Brien, Stuart Thompson, Stuart Poynter (wk), George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase

India got off to the perfect start in the opening game and checked all the boxes, save for a late dip in the
batting, but by then they had decent runs on the board. They will look to do the things strictly according
to the blueprint they now have established in the limited overs for themselves, and it is working
extremely well.

Since Virat Kohli mentioned the possibility of experimenting and trying out various combinations in this
tour as an adaptability exercise ahead of the World Cup, we could see KL Rahul being rewarded for hi IPL
returns by getting a game tonight at the expense of one of the openers. The other two seamers in the
squad might also be tried ahead of the tour of England.

India (expected XI) KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (capt), Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (wk), Manish
Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Umesh Yadav/Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah