India and Ireland meet each other in the second and final T20I of the bilateral series between the two teams at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast on Sunday, June 28. The Men in Blue will soon depart from Irish shores to take part in a white-ball series with England. Ireland will look to make the most of this encounter as it forms part of their preparation for the 2028 T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand. With an eye on the World Cup, the selectors have named a young-looking side led by wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker.
Of course, the injuries suffered by Paul Stirling, Barry McCarthy, Mark Adair, Joshua Little, among others, have given them no choice. A lot will rest on how Tucker rallies his troops to the cause, while Ross Adair, George Dockrell and Harry Tector get straight down to business. Another major loss will be that of Curtis Campher, since he can change the nature of a match with both bat and ball. India, too, have a lot of new faces, with Shreyas Iyer appointed to lead the side after Suryakumar Yadav was axed. This proved to be a controversial decision with the supporters since Yadav had only just led India to the 2026 T20 World Cup title by defeating New Zealand in the final.
However, the selectors looked at Yadav’s form in the Indian Premier League and deemed him redundant to the team’s cause. In his stead, a lot of promising cricketers have been named in the squad, the most exciting of which is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The southpaw has taken the world by storm with his strokeplay, and Ireland will have a major challenge keeping him quiet inside the first six overs. No batter since Sachin Tendulkar in 1989 has generated so many waves before his international debut, and Sooryavanshi will be under a bit of pressure too. Nonetheless, the likes of Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan will work hard to take the glare off him a little.
Predicted Teams
IND: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Prince Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh.
IRE: Ross Adair, Tim Tector, Gareth Delany, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (c) (wk), George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Reuben Wilson, Gavin Hoey, Liam McCarthy, Matthew Hollard.
Key Players
Ishan Kishan (IND): Ishan Kishan was handed the captaincy of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026 till Pat Cummins got fit, and he did not disappoint. Of course, he has enough experience in doing so, since he led Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2025-26. Kishan is a flamboyant batter who likes to bat inside the power play the most. He is known to throw his bat whenever he is given any width, since this allows him to send the ball over the rope. He also scored a blistering century (125) in his last innings, in an ODI against Afghanistan in Lucknow.
Lorcan Tucker (IRE): A lot rests on how well captain-wicketkeeper Lorcan Tucker leads his team. He is a safe bet behind the stumps and has made that place his own for many years now. He is also a handy customer with the bat in hand, who can score runs when his team needs them the most. In this series, however, Tucker will have to take on added responsibility since none of the other seniors are available. Although he will walk out to bat lower down the order, he will have to finish innings well for his side, either when they are setting a target or if they are chasing one.
Match Prediction
India are the favourites to win this match, and Ireland are not even expected to run them close. Despite the conditions being largely different from what the Indians have at home, the depth in their squad will simply dwarf anything Ireland throw at them. The home team have been beset by injuries, and that will not help their cause at all. To beat the world champions, you need your best players to be available. The home team’s bowling attack appears threadbare, at best. India have a big upper hand.
