Indian cricket team began their ongoing UK tour with an emphatic 76-run victory against the hosts Ireland in the first game of two-match T20I series at The Village, Malahide, Dublin on Wednesday. India managed to put 208/5 (20 overs) on the board while Ireland was restricted for just 132/9 in 20 overs.
Thanks to Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s brilliant 160-run partnership, India found a big total on the board. Earlier in the game, Irish captain Garry Wilson won the toss and decided to field first. Indian captain Virat Kohli fielded the side without selecting KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav and Washington Sundar.
Indian openers had a great start as they put 59 runs on the board at the end of the powerplay. As many as three regular chances were put down by the Irish fielders and those punished them. Both the openers completed their half-centuries as Dhawan made that in just 27 balls while Rohit took 39 balls to achieve that.
Both the batsmen stretched their innings further as Dhawan made 74 runs off 45 balls (5 fours and 5 sixes) while Rohit missed his third T20I century for just three runs as he was dismissed on 97 runs off 61 balls (8 fours) in the 20th over.
While the openers lost their wickets at late, other Indian batsmen didn’t get enough chances to bat on. Suresh Raina scored 10 off 6 balls while MS Dhoni scored 11 off 5 balls. Coming to bat in the last over, Indian skipper Virat Kohli kicked off his UK tour with a duck. Hardik Pandya finished the innings in style by hitting six in the final ball, which was his first facing delivery in the game.
Irish pacer Peter Chase picked up three wickets in the final over as he had a bowling figure of 4-0-35-4. Kevin O’Brien was the other Irish bowler to pick up a wicket who broke the opening partnership by dismissing Dhawan in the 16th over.
In reply, most of Ireland batsmen struggled as the hosts only managed to score 132 runs. Opener James Shannon was the only Irish batsman to reach the 20-run mark while Stuart Thompson was the second highest runs scorer in that innings with a 12-run knock.
While Shannon dropped twice early, he completed his half-century in 29 balls and scored 60 runs off 35 balls (5 fours and 4 sixes) before Indian left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav trapped him for lbw. However, the 28-year-old right-handed batsman hugely impressed with his powerful batting performance.
Among the Indian bowlers, spinners mostly dominated as Kuldeep Yadav (4/21) and Yuzvendra Chahal (3/38) shared seven wickets while the pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/19) got wickets as a lone Indian pacer.
While India won the game comfortably, Kuldeep Yadav won the Player of the Match award for his impressive bowling performance.
Brief Scores: India – 208/5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 97, Shikhar Dhawan 74; Peter Chase 4/35)
Ireland – 132/9 in 20 overs (James Shannon 60, Stuart Thompson 12; Kuldeep Yadav 4/21)
Result – India won by 76 runs
