(Cricket news) The Indian team is gearing up to play 2 T20Is against Ireland. Both the games will be played at the Village in Dublin. The men in blue will be without a few of its big players and also without its coaching staff led by Rahul Dravid as the red team is in England preparing for the Headingley Test. Hardik Pandya will captain the side for the first time ever while NCA head VVS Laxman will act as head coach. 

India's ideal playing XI-

Openers: Ishan Kishan & Ruturaj Gaikwad

Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad are pretty much India's 2nd choice opening pair when KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma aren't available. Their opening combination was very good against South Africa and the management is more than likely to back the pair once again as they compliment each other really well. Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi are the other two options. 

Middle order: Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda & Dinesh Karthik

Suryakumar Yadav returns after his injury absence and should get into the team straight away. This will be a very important tournament for the batter as he will have to start firing right away to earn his place back in the team. Dinesh Karthik is in red hot form and he needs to continue doing the same. Karthik's position in the batting order will most likely depend on the situation. Deepak Hooda spent the whole South Africa series on the bench. It wouldn't be wrong to say that Hooda is next in line for a place in the middle order. There have been rumours of Sanju Samson being guaranteed to be in the playing XI but Hooda definitely deserves a chance. Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi are the other options.

All-rounders: Hardik Pandya & Axar Patel 

Skipper Hardik Pandya will look to lead from the front with both bat and ball. It will be interesting to see if Pandya pushes himself up the order or continues batting at no. 5. Axar Patel being the only spin bowling all-rounder has to play. He was good in patches in the IPL and against South Africa. Patel will be hoping to have a better series against Ireland which will guarantee his long term place in the side even after Ravindra Jadeja returns.

Seamers: Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar & Avesh Khan

India continued backing these trio of seamers against South Africa and there is no reason to change that now. Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh will be eager to get their debut caps but these 3 are likely to feature in both matches. The trio had a good 3rd and 4th game against South Africa and the team will need a similar performance. Conditions will be much better for seam bowling and they need to take full advantage of it.

Spinner: Yuzvendra Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal will once again be an important part of the side. His wrist spin will be very effective in Irish conditions. Ravi Bishnoi is another option but Chahal is first choice. He is a proper wicket taking option and it will be interesting to see how Pandya uses him.

Bench: Sanju Samson, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh & Umran Malik 

Also read: Answers India will be searching for in the warm up Test