REVEALED: Why were Shreyas Iyer & Rishabh Pant excluded from IND's T20I squad vs IRE?

Prominent Indian batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant's omission from India’s T20I series for the upcoming 20-over series against Ireland appeared like a blow out of the water. The Men in Blue are scheduled to travel to Ireland later this month for two T20Is after the ongoing 5-match series against South Africa concludes. While Rishabh currently leads the squad against the visiting Proteas side, his deputy Hardik Pandya will be leading the team against Ireland in his absence.

Reason behind Iyer & Pant's absence from Ireland tour

Pant made his captaincy debut for India in the series, in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma. The fact that Pant and Iyer have been excluded from the squad against Ireland, has sparked speculations as to on what grounds have the duo been dropped from the team. However, as India face England in the postponed Test series decider from July 1 to 5, it might be possible that Rishabh and Shreyas have been rested so that they can prepare for the England Test. 

Both the cricketers were named in India’s Test squad and will directly travel to Birmingham to prepare for the Test series decider. Having said that, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, and Rahul Tripathi are set to return to the India squad against Ireland. Meanwhile, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will essay the role of Hardik’s deputy in the series.

Going ahead in the future, two separate teams for T20Is and Tests can be in place, as it has come to work favourably for India so far. During India’s tour of England in 2021, while the Virat Kohli-led Test squad played against England, a separate team, led by Shikhar Dhawan, travelled to Sri Lanka for a 3-match ODI and T20I series. It is here noteworthy that India is slated to play three T20Is and three ODIs against England after the fifth Test. 

A look at India's full squad for both assignments against England and Ireland

India’s Test squad vs England: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain) Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna

India’s T20I squad vs Ireland: Hardik Pandya (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vc), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik

(Image: PTI/bcci.tv)