NEW DELHI : Rohit Sharma-led India won the toss and decided to field against Paul Stirling’s Ireland in the T20 World Cup 2024 match at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Wednesday.
In the T20 World Cup 2024, the Men in Blues will be looking forward to ending their ICC trophy drought, having last won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Since then, India has reached the 50-over World Cup final in 2023, semifinal in 2015 and 2019, the title clash of the ICC World Test Championship in 2021 and 2023, T20 WC final in 2014, semifinals in 2016 and 2022 but failed to secure a big ICC trophy.
India will be coming into this match as the favourites but Ireland have an experienced squad who can turn around a match any minute. The last time when Ireland faced India in a three-match T20I series, they suffered a 2-0 loss after the last match was washed out due to rain.
Speaking at the toss, India skipper Rohit Sharma said Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal will miss the opening game against Ireland.
“We’re going to bowl. Preparations have been alright. Have been managing ourselves in these new conditions. Has been challenging but we are all professionals. We played on a similar pitch and do know what to expect a little bit. I know it’s going to be slightly different from what we’re used to. But that’s what the sport is. Not sure about the conditions too much, so thought having a target in front of us would be good. Guys missing out are Kuldeep, Sanju, Jaiswal and one more,” Rohit said.
Ireland skipper Paul Stirling said they have got enough matchwinner in their squad and looking forward to the match.
“Coming with pretty good prep, we were in Amsterdam recently. We’ve got plenty of matchwinners in our side, want them to show up on the day. We’re looking to assess conditions early,” Stirling said.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.
Ireland Playing XI: Paul Stirling (C), Andrew Balbirnie, Lorcan Tucker (WK), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Benjamin White. (ANI)