India vs Ireland: Rinku Singh makes his India debut, Prasidh Krishna also handed debut T20I cap

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Rinku Singh made his much-anticipated India debut during the first T20I against Ireland on Friday, August 18. The 25-year-old middle-order batter was handed his debut cap by Jasprit Bumrah before the toss.

Rinku Singh's debut was a much-awaited one ever since his glorious run with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2023. He scored 474 runs in 14 matches at an average of 59.25 and a strike-rate of 149.52.

He smashed five consecutive sixes off the last five balls of the 20th over to hand his team a thrilling last-ball win against Gujarat Titans (GT) to become a household. He kept on repeating the heroics until the last ball he faced in the tournament.

BCCI and the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel were slammed after the southpaw was ignored for the white-ball series against West Indies. However, as promised the selectors first named Rinku Singh in the India squad for the Asian Games, before inducting him in India's T20I squad for the Ireland squad.

Prasidh Krisna also makes T20I debut for India

Further, pacer Pradish Krishna was also handed his T20I debut in the match. The 27-year-old, who has played 14 ODIs, last played for India in August 2022. He was rehabilitating alongside Bumrah at the NCA.

India won the toss and opted to bowl first under overcast conditions. Shivam Dube is also making his India comeback for the first time after February 2020.