IND vs IRE 1st T20I: Umran Malik to finally debut for India vs Ireland? Hardik Pandya says THIS

Umran Malik got his maiden call-up for the Men in Blue in the home series against South Africa recently. However, the right-arm fast bowler could not make his debut as captain Rishabh Pant decided to play the same playing XI in all the five matches against the Proteas

Source: Twitter

India are less than 24 hours away from playing their first T20I against Ireland on Sunday (June 26). With a lot of new faces in the Men in Blue squad, captain Hardik Pandya said that there will be couple of players who will make their debut against Ireland. One of the hot topics after the IPL 2022 has been India's pace express Umran Malik. The SRH fast bowler could finally make his debut for India after an impressive performance in the IPL and tons of practice sessions with the national team during the recent South Africa series at home.

Umran received his maiden call-up for the Men in Blue in their home series against South Africa recently. However, the right-arm fast bowler could not make his debut as captain Rishabh Pant decided to play the same playing XI in all the five matches against the Proteas.

Now, a second-string Indian team is set to two T20Is against Ireland with Hardik Pandya as captain. Umran Malik is likely to make his international debut for India as the skipper himself said there will be a couple of caps given and he wants to play his best XI.

"We want to give opportunities but at the same time we want to play with our best XI. So there will be a couple of caps given but at the same time it is about making sure that when we go on the field we have the best XI," said Pandya on the eve of the first T20I against Ireland.

Captain Hardik Pandya has taken the charge at Ireland. pic.twitter.com/ovDZaITtof

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) June 24, 2022

There will be glimpse of what the future of Indian cricket awaits as the series against Ireland will unleash many young faces and debutants playing for their country. Another name which took the social media on fire after the announcement of his maiden call-up for India was Rahul Tripathi. The Sunrisers Hyderabad batter was rewarded for his performances in the IPL 2022, in which he scored 413 runs playing for SRH. It will be interesting to see what playing XI Pandya fields after suggesting he will play with the best XI.