Mohali cricketer in Ireland squad for India T20

Indian-origin cricketer Simranjit Singh has been picked up by Ireland in their T20 squad ahead of the two-match series against India.

The 31-year-old, who received an Irish citizenship last year, used to play cricket in Mohali and always wanted to play for India.

"From the day I started playing cricket in Mohali, I always used to dream about playing for the Indian team. When I did not get my chance in Punjab cricket, I went to study in Ireland and now to get a chance to play against the Indian team at the same ground, where I used to play and train kids, is the biggest moment of my career," cricket.com.au quoted Simranjit Singh, as saying.

The spin bowling all-rounder, who holds an impressive domestic cricket record, recently made his T20I debut against the Netherlands, where he took 3 wickets off 23, restricting the opposition to 144.

Singh underscored that the experience of playing at international level will come in handy while facing India.

"Playing in the T20 format at the international level before the series against India gave me a lot of confidence. Scotland and Netherlands have some very good players and taking wickets against those teams helped my game," he said.

Ireland have faced India only once in the shortest format of the game during the 2009 T20 World Cup, where India registered an easy 8-wicket victory over the island nation.