New Delhi (India) June 26: Ireland have made history in Belfast winning their maiden T20I victory over the Men in Blue. It is also their first win against India in any format. While the T20 World champions went into the match as double defending champions, it was Lorcan Tucker-led Ireland side who emerged victors by 34 runs.
India Suffer Defeat Despite Good Start
India had a strong start in the chase due to fifty from Abhishek Sharma, whose aggressive batting included flurry of fours and sixes to put India on track within 8 overs, at 80/4, when he was dismissed for 50, everything started to lose for India.
A memorable debut spell from Matthew Hollard (3/28), who took the wickets of Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Washington Sundar. With another two from Jai Moondra who also got dangerous Shivam Dube, and a few from other Irish pacers and spinners, India were knocked out within 18.5 overs for 148. Even though India staged a fightback thanks to Axar Patel and Dube, it was a remarkable late show from injured Matthew Humphreys who got rid of Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh in the final over.
Dube Reaches 1,000 T20I Runs For India
It was a notable T20I career milestone for Shivam Dube, who passed the mark of 1,000 runs for India and he reached the milestone in 648 balls, behind only Abhishek Sharma (528) and Suryakumar Yadav (573).
Shreyas Reflects On Tough Captaincy Debut Defeat
It has been a tough match for Shreyas Iyer on his captaincy debut with India going 1-0 down in this series against Ireland.
Shreyas Iyer said, “I think initially the bowler's were bowling really well. They got lethal and picked up a couple of wickets as well. After that, we lost execution. We made them hit straight down the ground. We knew that the dimensions are pretty small but they were few other bowlers with whom we had to shut down the overs. They were brilliant as well. I thought 140 would've been an amazing score considering the start that we got to chase but nonetheless, it's a great experience over here. We got to play on this condition, got a fair idea on this wicket and yeah, great start as a captain” regarding the match.
Playing Xl's: INDIA AND IRELAND
India’s Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna
Ireland’s Playing XI: Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w/c), Benjamin Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Liam McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Jai Moondra, Matthew Hollard