Vaibhav Sooryavanshi missed out once again, but two players made their debuts for India in the second T20I against Ireland on Sunday. Prince Yadav and Suryansh Shedge were handed their maiden T20I caps after the team management decided against including the 15-year-old prodigy in the playing XI. There had been plenty of chatter around Sooryavanshi since his inclusion in the squad for the Ireland tour, but he finishes the series without game time. As for the match itself, Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first. India currently trail 0-1 in the two-match series after losing the opening fixture by 34 runs.
“We’re going to bowl first considering the weather condition. It can pour any time, so we want to maximize the advantage of it. [On what he wants his side to do differently after Friday’s defeat while chasing] I think the trend is it’s just important to adapt to the conditions as quickly as possible. And they were pretty smart in terms of making bowling changes and also scoring off the back foot and front foot, clearing right in the front. So it’s important that we play smart cricket rather than having a set pattern and see to it that we back our instincts as well at the same time.”
“[On the challenge of returning from the IPL to international cricket and adapting to different conditions] Yes, it was a bit different, but coming back to the international, it was my first game after a very long time. And, you know, we’ve got many experienced players in the team who have played a considerable amount of matches. So it was just a day off for us and looking forward to have a good one today.”
“[On the changes to the playing XI] Yeah, we’ve got two changes. Suryansh Shedge and Prince Yadav come in. Both are making the debut. So these are the two changes we’ve made. [On debutant Shedge] He’s a powerful, destructive batter. Yes, he’s a sensational youngster who has been scoring runs in the domestic cricket and also in the IPL. He’s got tremendous amount of experience in the youth cricket. So definitely he’s performed in the A tours. So he’s getting, he’s reaping the benefits.”
[On what fans can expect from debutant Prince] Definitely it’s his first game, so I don’t want to put him under that much pressure. It’s important that he comes out here and experiences and gain the experience out of what is there to offer. And he must have seen the match, how we played in the previous game. So definitely he’s smart enough to adapt to it,” Iyer said.India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav.
Ireland (Playing XI): Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w/c), Benjamin Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Liam McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Jai Moondra, Matthew Hollard.
