The Asia Cup preparatory camp scheduled for the last week of August has raised the prospect of a new captain for the three-match Twenty20 International series against Ireland. With regular T20I captain Hardik Pandya slated to be part of the squad for the Asia Cup, the selectors are likely to look for a new captain.
The three Twenty20 Internationals are set for August 18, 20, and 23, following the end of the five-match series against the West Indies.
The captain’s identity is unknown, but it appears that head coach Rahul Dravid wants all of the players selected for the Asia Cup to attend the camp. The only likely exception in this situation is Jasprit Bumrah, whom the Indian team management and selectors intend to put through his paces in the Twenty20 games, when he will bowl no more than four overs.
Bumrah, needless to say, is coming off a 10-month injury layoff, during which he underwent surgery.
Dravid has proposed a week-long training camp in Bengaluru to prepare for the Asia Cup. The team’s training camp could begin on August 24-25, before flying to Sri Lanka for the six-team intra-continental championship. On September 2, India will play archrival Pakistan in the inaugural match of the event, which runs from August 30 to September 17. Due to this pre-planned camp, Dravid and members of his support team have been relieved of their duties for the August 18-23 Ireland T20I series.
Meanwhile, the Indian squad has arrived in Barbados, where they will play 2nd of 3 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) against the West Indies on July 27 and 29. The players selected for the ODIs, Pandya, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, and Umran Malik, have joined the team.
With the exception of Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Test specialist, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, and Navdeep Saini, all players have left for India. Jaiswal has remained because he is a member of the Twenty20 squad. The five-match Twenty20 series is set to take place between August 3 and August 13, 2023.
