Why Hardik Pandya is not selected in India's T20I squad for Ireland tour ?

Hardik Pandya has been leading India in T20Is after the T20 World Cup 2022.

Team India are currently on tour in the West Indies for a multi-format series. The tour began with two test matches, while the three-match ODI series is underway. It will be followed by a five-match T20I series, starting on August 3. The tour will conclude with the fifth and final T20I on August 13 in Florida. Then the men in blue will have a four-day break for their next tour.

Team India will fly to Ireland to play three T20Is, which will start on August 18 (Friday). The second and third games will take place on August 20 and 23. On Monday, 31st July, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 16-member squad for the Ireland tour, which saw most of the senior players getting rest, including T20I skipper Hardik Pandya.

Why is Hardik Pandya not part of the Indian squad for the Ireland tour

The announced squad saw the return of ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who will make his return to competitive cricket after a gap of almost a year. He will be the stand-in captain in place of Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder has been reportedly given rest in order to manage the workload, as Team India will play two big tournaments in the coming 3–4 months.

Just after the Ireland tour, India will be playing in the Asia Cup, where they will face arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening game on September 2. That might be the main reason that the BCCI has given rest to Hardik, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubham Gill, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav, and other senior players.

Earlier, there were a few reports as well that the BCCI might give Hardik Pandya rest on the Ireland tour, and exactly what happened. Well, speaking of the team, Ruturaj Gaikwad has been given the vice captaincy role, and the squad announced has mostly those players who will represent India in the Asian Games 2023. Sanju Samson is another notable name in the squad.

India's Squad for Ireland Tour:

Jasprit Bumrah (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan.