Josh Little to play entire IPL before joining Ireland's T20 World Cup squad

Ireland left-arm pacer Josh Little will stay with the Gujarat Titans (GT) for the remainder of IPL 2024 before joining the national side for the T20 World Cup, starting June 1. The decision from Cricket Ireland means Little will miss the upcoming T20I series against Pakistan and the tri-series in the Netherlands ahead of the showpiece event.

The 24-year-old played his first game of IPL 2024 in GT's last outing against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). While GT suffered a third consecutive defeat, Little was sensational with figures of 4/45 in four overs. As things stand, GT look set to miss the playoffs with only four wins in 11 games.

Ireland will play three T20Is against Pakistan, starting Friday, May 10, before the tri-series involving the Netherlands and Scotland from May 19.

Their T20 World Cup campaign will begin against Team India in New York on June 5.

Meanwhile, GT's next outing will be against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a repeat of last season's finale in Ahmedabad on Friday.

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Ireland announced a 15-member provisional squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup

Ireland announced their 15-member provisional squad for the T20 World Cup, the same as the one that will play Pakistan and the Netherlands tri-series.

Paul Stirling will captain the side and be part of an incredible eighth consecutive T20 World Cup.

On the squad, head coach Heinrich Malan was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying:

"The squad is one that we have gradually developed and tested out over the last 18 or so months. The skillsets we need to cover are there, albeit we have allowed Josh [Little] to continue in the IPL until his side end their campaign, so he will likely join us ahead of the big tournament."

"We have an intensive block of T20 cricket coming up this month ahead of the T20 World Cup - we have seven games in 15 days as preparation for the tournament. We will not be treating those seven games as warm-ups, though, we'll be aiming to win as many of those games as possible," he added.

Ireland qualified for the main group of the 2022 T20 World Cup and pulled off a stunning win over eventual champions England in that stage.

They will be part of Group A in the upcoming edition with India, Pakistan, Canada, and the U.S.A.

Ireland squad for T20 World Cup

Paul Stirling (capt), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andy Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little*, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock (wk), Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Ben White, Craig Young.