Jasprit Bumrah to return, will lead Indian team in T20I series against Ireland

MUMBAI: Pacer Jasprit Bumrah is set to return to competitive cricket by leading Team India in the T20I series against Ireland. The BCCI on Monday announced that Bumrah will be leading the Indian team in the three-match series starting in August.

The pacer underwent a successful back surgery in March and has not played competitive cricket since a T20I match at home against Australia in last September. He had also missed a lot of action in the Asia Cup when his back injury surfaced. Following this, he made a brief return to action during the Australia T20I series at home in September, but his injury resurfaced. Bumrah was chosen for the ODI series against Sri Lanka in January this year after he had started his rehab in November last year and started to bowl in December. But during his fitness drills in January, which increased in intensity, he started to face discomfort once again. He also missed ICC T20 World Cup 2022 and Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.

Rinku Singh, who had a breakthrough Indian Premier League (IPL) season with Kolkata Knight Riders, has made it to the squad. All-rounder Shivam Dube also makes his return to the side after a splendid 2023 IPL season with Chennai Super Kings, for which he hit 418 runs in 16 matches.

Hardik Pandya, who has been captaining the T20I side has been rested for the series.

The matches will be played on August 18, 20 and 23 in Dublin, Ireland.

Team India squad for T20I series against Ireland: Jasprit Bumrah (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan.