India sweep Ireland in T20Is with World Cup in mind

As expected, a significantly depleted Indian team led by Jasprit Bumrah blanked hosts Ireland in the recent T20Is series – the final match was washed out before a ball could be bowled – was was played just like the five previous matches in the West Indies and Florida under the shadow of the looming ODI World Cup. The purpose of these matches, without being disrespectful to Ireland – who will, it must be said, be at the 2024 T20 World Cup – was to see how the returning Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna would hold up across three T20Is, as well as whether the buzz around 20-year-old Tilak Varma after a strong debut versus West Indies was worth adding him to the Asia Cup setup given the middle-order problems plaguing the Indian team.

As it panned out, it took Bumrah – back after nearly 11 months – and Krishna – back after almost a year – two matches and eight overs each to convince the BCCI selectors that they were good to go for the Asia Cup. Which should surprise nobody, given the all-format status that Bumrah has earned over a decorated but injury-riddled career and the fact that Krishna’s first 14 ODIs before he was laid low by injury yielded 25 wickets, the most for any Indian bowler after as many matches after Ajit Agarkar’s 32 back in 1997. Both pace bowlers are headed to humid Sri Lanka for sterner tests, with the bigger picture being the World Cup in October. Sure, eight overs in Ireland are normally not enough to pick a Word Cup squad, but these are desperate times in Indian cricket.

Varma followed a series-leading 173 runs against West Indies with scores of 0 and 1 in Ireland but this was enough for the selectors to jettison him into the ODI setup. Primarily, we can surmise, because of how solid he looked against the West Indies and because he offers a predominantly right-handed ODI batting lineup a left-handed option. With Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul returning to the team after a lengthy gap and with zero match practice to show for, the Indian management seems to value the rookie Varma’s skill in the middle order, and if he is being considered for the Asia Cup then the team might as well debut him in ODIs for the first match against Pakistan, since waiting for the tournament to progress and then seeing if Varma can cut it makes little sense.

The recent niggle that Rahul picked up prompted Agarkar and his fellow selectors to name Sanju Samson as a travelling standby for the Asia Cup, which puts in perspective why he played all three T20Is in Ireland. Ostensibly the only member of India’s squad to Ireland who was playing for his place, Samson faced one ball in the first match and then sped to 40 in the second before throwing away his wicket. Not good enough to merit a longer run in T20Is, but enough to keep Samson in the reckoning for India’s World Cup squad given that Rahul is uncertain to be fit to keep and bat and Ishan Kishan is the only certain wicketkeeper.

Beyond these ODI-linked performers, there were others who went to Ireland – and who will go to the Asian Games in China – that merit mention. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was vice-captain in Ireland and will captain India at the Asian Games, finished as the leading run-getter to keep the selectors interested. Ravi Bishnoi used a rare series without Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal to underline his credentials, while Arshdeep Singh backed seven wickets versus West Indies with two in Ireland. The debutant Rinku Singh was Player of the Match after his only innings, which shows that at 25 he is one to be persisted with.

The disappointments were Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made 18 and 24, and Washington Sundar who in his return to the side went wicketless from five overs. But they are players who will play a lot of cricket for India over the next decade, so this minor blip can be overlooked.

All told, India ended the series with pretty much what they wanted to. As the focus now shifts to the ODI format with the Asia Cup starting August 30 and then the World Cup, the team management can look at the short Ireland series as a stepping stone to bigger challenges.