No Kohli as Pandya leads India T20 squad against Ireland

All-rounder Hardik Pandya will lead India’s 17-man squad for the upcoming two-match Twenty20 International series in Ireland, the BCCI announced on Wednesday.

Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar was named vice-captain for the games at Malahide on June 26 and 28.

Regular captain Rohit Sharma, star batsman Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were rested for the tour.

Pandya led his Gujarat Titans team to victory in the recently held Indian Premier League.

Batsman Rahul Tripathi has been included in the squad on the back of a solid performance during the IPL. The Indian team will also travel to England in July to complete the one-off Test against the hosts that was called off due to coronavirus last September. The Indian Test squad was announced last month.

The teams are also scheduled to play three Twenty20 internationals and three one-day internationals during the nearly three-week long England tour.

SQUAD:

Hardik Pandya (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.