Team India’s aura has endured a massive dent after their loss to Ireland in Belfast in the opening T20I. For the first time in 29 meetings across men’s and women’s cricket, Ireland managed to beat India. And it was not one of those freak results where everything went wrong in a low-scoring game. Ireland outplayed India in key moments. Abhishek Sharma, after the match, said that Ireland deserved to beat the Men in Blue, who were awful in major parts.
Now, with the series on the line, Shreyas Iyer faces his first real selection dilemma as India’s new T20I captain. The batting unit is unlikely to witness any major surgery despite the defeat. India still have Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan at the top, three batters who were massive to India’s T20 World Cup triumph earlier this year.
Abhishek was one scoring correction away from a 19-ball fifty in the first game, while Kishan has been in peak of his powers. He has struck at close to 192 runs in T20s so far this year. Which is exactly why Vaibhav Sooryavanshi may have to wait a little longer.
Why Sooryavanshi should remain patient
There was enormous excitement around the 15-year-old before the first T20I. Fans expected India to hand him a debut cap right after after his record-breaking IPL season and astonishing exploits for India A. But he isn’t the only character in international cricket. As much as everyone wants to see him don the India colours, Indian management have opted for more fairness (on the current bunch of players).
To put in Sooryavanshi, who does India drop? Samson, who literally single-handedly won India the T20 World Cup 2026? Abhishek, currently the No. 1 ranked T20I batter in the world? Or Kishan, who has arguably been India’s most destructive batter in white-ball cricket this year?
There simply isn’t a vacancy right now. After losing the opening game, India are even less likely to experiment. The management would rather trust proven match-winners. Sooryavanshi’s moment is coming. Belfast probably isn’t it.
India to hand T20I caps to Prince & Shedge?
India’s bowling after the powerplay was a major point of concern. The big reason for that was Prasidh Krishna. The fact that Shivam Dubey was India’s sixth bowler meant India had to give Krishna all four overs and also had to sneak an over or two from Washington Sundar.
Prasidh Krishna’s outing was difficult to watch. His figures of 0/57 included an expensive final over where Gareth Delany launched a brutal assault. Despite the Belfast pitch offering good bounce, Prasidh just failed to extract anything off the deck. Batters found it easy to hit him away. This was the third time in only six T20Is that Prasidh has conceded more than 50 runs in a spell.
Due to this, Prince Yadav suddenly becomes a tempting option. He enjoyed a solid IPL 2026 campaign with 16 wickets and looked promising during the Afghanistan ODI series. His skiddy pace and attacking lengths could suit Belfast. Against Ireland, Prince should definitely make his T20I debut, and he won’t be rusty as well, since the lad had played ODIs for India against Afghanistan earlier this month.
Washington Sundar’s situation is a bit muddled right now. It’s not just about one bad game in Belfast, it’s about how he’s been used over a longer stretch. In his last 10 bowling innings, he’s gone past two overs only once, which says a lot about the lack of clarity around his role. There have been games where he’s picked up wickets early and still hasn’t been trusted to finish his spell, and that kind of stop-start usage doesn’t really help a bowler.
If India are thinking about balancing the side differently, especially with an extra seam option and some lower-order hitting, Suryansh Shedge becomes a genuine alternative. Nitish Kumar Reddy’s injury got a sudden chance to Shedge, who is coming off a strong IPL with Punjab Kings and looked confident during India A’s recent tri-series win in Sri Lanka, where he chipped in with 147 runs. It’s not a like-for-like swap, but these types of matches are where you have to experiment and try out new players.
India Predicted Playing XI vs Ireland – 2nd T20I
- Abhishek Sharma
- Sanju Samson (wk)
- Ishan Kishan
- Shreyas Iyer (C)
- Tilak Varma (VC)
- Shivam Dube
- Axar Patel
- Suryansh Shedge/Ravi Bishnoi
- Harshit Rana
- Prince Yadav
- Arshdeep Singh
