India's T20 Squad For Ireland: Is This What The Future Looks Like?

“I have had discussions with NCA head VVS Laxman and we will always have 50 players in our roster. In future, you will have a scenario, where the Indian Test team will be playing a series in one country and the white-ball team will be engaged in a series in a different country. We are going in that direction where we will have two national teams ready at the same time,” BCCI Secretary, Jay Shah, told PTI in a recent chat. 

On the day when Jay Shah confidently promised to have a 50-player roster, two things happened: India's T20 squad for Ireland was announced and the Indian test team flew to England. 

While the one-off England test is the continuation of the previous series and it was an unavoidable situation that this fifth test is happening now, but this is what the future beholds for Indian cricket - players catching different flights and traveling to different countries with a different set of players. 

The announcement of the T20 squad for Ireland has also given a hint on what India's shorter format squad might look like in the next couple of years. 

India's T20 squad for Ireland: Hardik Pandya (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vc), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik 

It is refreshing to see the names of Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, and Dinesh Karthik being backed for the series. While Karthik's case a bit different and we don't know for sure for how much time is the Rahul Dravid-led management is backing him but if he's there then he's being looked at as the finisher at least till the T20 World Cup in October. 

Tripathi and Samson had a stellar IPL 2022 and have been consistent performers for their respective teams. Samson is one of the oldest students in Dravid's class. It was surprising that he was left out of the South Africa series. Nevertheless, Samson being on the Ireland tour gives a hint as India is looking at him for the long-term middle-order option. Will Tripathi get a game? He certainly should, looking at how he has been performing every year in the T20 format. 

Consider this lineup from number three to number seven - Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik. This is a near possibility in the Ireland tour and now add KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant to this lineup and suddenly India's batting department is looking so much refreshing and dangerous for the opposition when all players are available at the same time. 

Is India moving from Rohit Sharmas and Virat Kohlis in the T20 format? Maybe yes. A lot will be clear when the Ireland tour and fifth test get over and India takes on England in a three-match T20I series. Rohit Sharma will be certain since he's the captain but will Virat Kohli continue to be in the T20 squad with his recent struggles and an approach that is not giving results now? 

This also gives us a hint that India doesn't have a settled squad as of yet since they are still considering a lot of players and keeping the senior pros in the contention as well and it's all happening in a close range of the T20 World Cup. 

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Maybe Rahul Dravid has figured it all in his mind but from the outside, things are still looking quite complicated. However, one thing is for sure, the future of Indian cricket has some exciting and interesting things to look forward to.