Umran Malik, Indian pace sensation, has been handed his India debut in the first T20I vs Ireland in Dublin on Sunday. The 22-year-old received his cap from veteran pacer and his SunRisers Hyderabad teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared pictured of Malik receiving his cap. “A dream come true moment!!Congratulations to Umran Malik who is all set to make his T20I debut for #TeamIndia,” the Indian board captioned the post.

Hardik Pandya, who is making his Indian captaincy debut, won the toss and elected to bowl. The 28-year-old said leading his country is a dream come true. 

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“We are going to bowl. We would have loved to bat, but looking at the weather we felt bowling would be better. Nice to be in Ireland. Have fans here and feels like playing at home. Absolute honour to lead India. Any cricket who starts playing dreams of leading the country and I am very lucky to be leading my country. My role is simple. Just back them (the players) and ask them to play with freedom and express themselves. Umran makes his debut,” the Indian skipper said at the toss. 

Malik received his Indian call-up for the five-match T20I series against South Africa. However, he did not get a game. The 22-year-old, who bowled four of the five fastest balls in IPl 2022, finished the season with 22 wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad. 

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Suryakumar Yadav returned to the Indian side, while Sanju Samson is still on the bench. 

India (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umran Malik

Ireland (Playing XI): Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie(c), Gareth Delany, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w), George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Craig Young, Joshua Little, Conor Olphert