India out to play their 100th T20I match against Ireland

India would commence their UK tour with high hopes when they play on Ireland turf today. Placed on the third spot, team India would eye to gain some points in order to improve their position in the ICC T20I team rankings.

India would also be playing their 100th T20I International today.

This makes India the seventh nation to play 100 T20I games. Having played 128 matches, Pakistan top the list of playing most T20Is.

New Zealand is the third team who have played 11 T20Is games so far.

Skipper Virat Kohli would have the honour of leading the team in the historic match. Interestingly, Virender Sehwag led India when the team played their inaugural T20I game against South Africa in 2006.

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However, later Dhoni took the charge and led the team to a win in the inaugural T20 World Cup tournament in 2007 in South Africa.

In 99 T20Is that India have played so far, they have won 61 T20I contests and lost 35 of them. Team India’s have tied only one match which came against Pakistan during the T20 World Cup 2007.

Moreover, India holds the second position in terms of winning percentage with 63.40. Afghanistan sits on the top of the list with a winning percentage of 66.66.

Gary Wilson hopeful of giving a tough fight to the visitors:

Ireland skipper, Gary Wilson made his ODI debut in 2007 against India.

11 years later, he will be leading Ireland as the Indian cricket team visit Ireland only for the second time in the cricket history.

Wilson has promised fearless cricket against India.

“We are playing India, probably the best T20 side in the world. But, we would try to give our best and play some competitive cricket.”

“We want to play as much as we can. With the Future Tour Programme coming out last week, we will be playing 65 T20s over the next four years, which is a lot of international cricket. We have quite a few ODIs too and then we also have 13-14 Tests, so we are getting a lot more cricket now and that will be important.”