Vaibhav Sooryavanshi did not make his highly anticipated India debut on Friday and instead, it was Ireland pulling off a spectacular upset to register their first-ever win over India in any format.
Led by a fifty from captain Lorcan Tucker and 49 from Gareth Delany, Ireland set India a target of 183. Matthew Hollard and Jai Moondra then impressed on debut, picking up three and two wickets respectively, while Matthew Humphreys also claimed three wickets despite bowling with an injured webbing. Despite a blazing start, India were bowled out for 148 as Shreyas Iyer’s tenure as T20I captain began with an unprecedented loss to Ireland.
Abhishek Sharma got India off to a rollicking start by striking Humphreys for a six and a four to get underway. At the other end, Moondra enjoyed a dream debut, dismissing Sanju Samson off his very first delivery in international cricket. It did little to slow Abhishek down though, as he hit a six off Moondra before smashing Liam McCarthy for four fours in the following over. Hollard, the other debutant, then dismissed Ishan Kishan off just his second delivery before returning in his next over to remove Iyer, leaving India at 68/3 at the end of the Powerplay.
Starved of the strike, Abhishek reached his fifty off 19 balls in the eighth over before falling later in the same over. Ireland then tightened the screws with spin, stringing together a series of disciplined overs. Tilak Varma never got going and fell to Humphreys in the 11th over. Meanwhile, Hollard’s dream debut continued as he dismissed Washington Sundar in the 12th over to claim his third wicket. Boundaries dried up for India through the middle overs as Ireland maintained their chokehold.
Needing 54 off the last five overs with only four wickets in hand, the pressure was firmly on India and it culminated in a well-set Shivam Dube losing his wicket in the 16th. Ireland’s belief grew further in the following over when Axar Patel fell. Harshit Rana struck a crucial six off Moondra in the 18th over to keep India’s hopes alive and was then offered a reprieve by Harry Tector, who put down a simple chance at long-on. But it made little difference as Rana holed out off the very next delivery. Ireland wrapped up the win later in the same over when Arshdeep Singh holed out to long-on.
Earlier, Ireland got off to an explosive start after being asked to bat first, with Tim Tector smacking a six in the first over and Ross Adair hitting consecutive boundaries to begin the second. But India struck back through Rana, who dismissed Adair later in the same over. While Tim Tector got lucky in the third over, with Dube putting down a chance, his brother Harry wasn’t as fortunate and fell for a duck to Arshdeep Singh three balls later. Ireland’s woes deepened when Tim Tector departed in the following over. The last two overs of the Powerplay yielded no boundaries, leaving Ireland on 36/3.
Ben Calitz struck Prasidh Krishna for two sixes in the seventh over but fell to Dube in the following over. Tucker and Delany then joined hands with Ireland desperate for a partnership to steady the innings. The duo added 64 while rebuilding steadily before cutting loose from the 13th over onwards. India squandered a chance to break the stand early when Abhishek dropped a straightforward chance offered by Delany in the 11th over.
Tucker reached his fifty off 36 balls in the 14th over but failed to capitalise, falling to Rana in the 15th. India, however, failed to seize the momentum as the next two overs cost them 19 and 27 runs respectively. The assault began with George Dockrell dispatching a Washington Sundar full toss for six. He followed it up with two boundaries and another to begin the next over before Delany joined the party with a four and three successive sixes off Prasidh.
Ireland looked set for an even bigger finish, but it never materialised. Two tight overs from Axar, in which he picked up a wicket apiece, sandwiched a tidy over from Arshdeep as Ireland finished with what looked like a competitive rather than imposing 182/9. Eventually, it proved to be more than sufficient for them to script history.
Brief Scores: Ireland 182/9 in 20 overs (Lorcan Tucker 50, Gareth Delany 49; Harshit Rana 3-24) beat India 148 all-out in 18.3 overs (Abhishek 50, Shivam Dube 25; Matthew Hollard 3-28, Matthew Humphreys 3-38) by 34 runs.
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