Former India head coach Ravi Shastri feels that Rahul Tripathi could make his India T20I debut in the upcoming series against Ireland; the two T20Is will be played on June 26 and 28 in Dublin.
Rahul Tripathi earned his maiden India call-up for this series following his jaw-dropping batting during the IPL 2022. While Sunrisers Hyderabad had a disappointing season overall, Tripathi shone brightly with the bat.
The Maharashtra batsman was SRH’s second-highest scorer this season, his 413 runs coming at a terrific strike rate of 158 and he emerged as one of the best middle-overs enforcers of the tournament.
Tripathi is not overawed by any opposition: Ravi Shastri
Eulogizing Tripathi’s batting and aggressiveness, Ravi Shastri asserted that the 31-year-old is now intimidated by any opposition bowler; the former head coach reckons Tripathi’s attacking intent right from the start of his innings helps his side keep a quick tempo.
“When he is there at the crease, the scoreboard is ticking. He doesn’t go behind the eight ball. Shot-making ability and the all-round game that he has, he’s not overawed by any opposition or by any bowler. He’s scoring at a great rate. You know, which is tremendous at No.3 because he sets it up beautifully,” Shastri said on ESPNcricinfo.
Only one middle-order spot available for four players
Only few are made from the squad that took on South Africa: Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer joined up with the Test side in England while Tripathi was added to the squad and Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson made a return.
Yadav, who missed the South Africa series, will slot in at either number 3 or 4 straightaway. Ruturaj and Ishan are likely to the openers despite the former’s poor form recently. Skipper Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik will take the number 5 and 6 spots followed by Axar Patel, followed by four other bowlers.
This leaves only one middle-order spot for which Tripathi, Samson, Hooda and Venkatesh Iyer will be jostling for.
India Squad vs Ireland: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), 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
