India star leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik and opener Ruturaj Gaikwad were pictured riding bicycles after landing in Dublin for the impending two-match T20I series against Ireland.
Chahal shared a picture on his official Instagram handle in which he can be seen enjoying a cycle ride along with Karthik and Gaikwad. Among the three, only Chahal is the one who had played the previous series against Ireland in 2018, which India won 2-0.
Chahal is India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 74 scalps and with his recent performances, Chahal has almost become a certainty in India’s T20 World Cup squad. Ruturaj Gaikwad has not been very successful, but the Chennai Super Kings opener might just get two more chances against a weak Ireland side, against whom he can score some runs and get his confidence back.
Stand-in captain Hardik Pandya, who batted at No. 5 in the last series, is expected to continue in that position with Dinesh Karthik coming a slot below him. However, with Karthik being assigned a specific role, he could also come ahead of Pandya, depending on the situation.
India squad: Hardik Pandya (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vc), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
Ireland squad: Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.Live TV