Indian cricket team has a dominating start in their ongoing UK tour as they claimed a 76-run victory against the hosts Ireland in the first encounter of two-match T20I series at The Village, Malahide, Dublin on Wednesday (June 27). On Friday (June 29), they will play the second and final T20I of the series at the same venue.
India will look to dominate again and wrap up this short tour in style. Despite that emphatic victory, Indian skipper Virat Kohli has faced criticism to not select the in-form cricketers like KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Umesh Yadav etc. However, it is also understandable that the Indian skipper wants to watch out the other players before beginning their important tour in England where India will play three-match T20I series, three-match ODI series and five-match Test series against the in-form hosts England, starting from July 3.
On Wednesday, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan did the maximum job in batting while others didn’t get enough chances to bat on. Kohli surely wants to see them in the second T20I including himself as he scored a duck in the first game after coming to bat in the final over of their innings.
The bowlers did a good job but the fielding disappointed as they dropped two regular chances. Irish batsmen really struggled to play the left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav who picked up four wickets and won the Player of the Match award on Wednesday. Also, the pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah bowled really well, on whom the Indian cricket team is majorly dependent on bowling for the upcoming English tour.
Coming to the Irish team, pacer Peter Chase and the opening batsman James Shannon only impressed in the first encounter. Chase was mostly under control in that game except for the 18th over where he conceded 13 runs including three wides. He picked up four wickets including three in the final over of the Indian innings.
On the other hand, Shannon was the only Irish batsman to reach the 20-run mark as he scored 60 runs off 35 balls (5 fours and 4 sixes) before Kuldeep Yadav trapped him for lbw. Despite he got a few lucky chances including two drop catches, the 28-year-old right-handed batsman hugely impressed with his powerful batting performance. But, he didn’t get any partner to support him in a big chasing.
Irish fielders didn’t impress much as they had a miserable day on the field.
Surely, the Irish camp wants to show far better performance in every aspect during the final T20I of the series.
Full-member squad for the two-match T20I series
Ireland squad: Gary Wilson (c), Andy Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Andy McBrine, Kevin O’Brien, William Porterfield, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, James Shannon, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson.
Indian squad: Virat Kohli (c), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav.
