India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bowl first against Ireland in the second and final T20I of the two-match series at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast on Sunday. The decision was influenced by the weather conditions, with rain expected to play a factor during the match.
India make two changes, hand debuts to Shedge and Yadav
Iyer confirmed two changes to the playing XI from the previous match. Batting all-rounder Suryansh Shedge received his maiden India cap, while pacer Prince Yadav made his T20I debut. The duo replaced players from the side that lost the first T20I on Friday.
"We're going to bowl first considering the weather condition. It can pour any time, so we want to maximize the advantage of it," Iyer said at the toss. He emphasized the need for his team to adapt quickly after the defeat in the opening match. "I think the trend is it's just important to adapt to the conditions as quickly as possible. And they were pretty smart in terms of making bowling changes and also scoring off the back foot and front foot, clearing right in the front. So it's important that we play smart cricket rather than having a set pattern and see to it that we back our instincts as well at the same time."
Ireland captain Tucker happy to bat first
Ireland captain Lorcan Tucker said his side was content to bat first and aimed to assess the pitch early. "We are happy batting first. We want to get a good read on the pitch as quickly as possible. Hopefully it plays pretty similar today," Tucker said, referring to the surface that aided their victory in the first T20I.
Playing XIs for the second T20I
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav.
Ireland: Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (c/wk), Benjamin Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Liam McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Jai Moondra, Matthew Hollard.
India will be looking to level the series after losing the first match by a narrow margin. The team management has opted to blood new talent in Shedge and Yadav, signaling a focus on building depth ahead of future tournaments.
