Ireland Vs India, 1st T20I: Visitors Thrash Hosts Courtesy Clinical All-round Performance

As expected India started off their United Kingdom (UK) tour on a winning note. They defeated Ireland by 76 runs in the opening Twenty20 International of the two-match series to go 1-0 up.

The victory was decorated with brilliant knocks respectively from openers in the form of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

In addition, the bowlers also did a pretty decent job as India eventually won the match quite comprehensively. Ireland batted well in patches but that wasn’t enough to get them anywhere close to the huge target of 209.

It was Irish skipper Gary Wilson, who won the toss and put the visitors in. The small crowd was treated to some exceptional strokeplay by the Indian openers. They were quite brilliant and found the gaps on a regular basis.

Both Dhawan and Rohit looked in complete command of the proceedings and thrashed the visiting bowlers all around the Malahide Cricket Club (MCC).

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Openers pile on the runs:

Dhawan continued his rich vein of form and went on to smash a brilliant 74 off 45 deliveries. It was studded with five fours and as many sixes.

In the process, he shared a mammoth 160 runs stand with his opening partner Rohit. The vice-captain, on the other hand, dominated the bowlers with utter disdain. He looked well set to become the second batsman in the world to smash three T20I centuries. However, his dreams were shattered in the final over as he was castled by Peter Chase on 97.

Then, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina were promoted and both struck a few boundaries during their brief stay. While Raina made 10 off six balls courtesy a couple of fours, Dhoni smashed a six and a four during his five-ball 11.

Chase was on charge who bagged three wickets in the final over. However, Hardik Pandya made it a productive one for India when he unleashed the ‘Helicopter Shot’in the final delivery of the innings. They eventually finished on 208 at the end their allotted 20 overs.

Bowlers make light work of Ireland:

Jasprit Bumrah provided the maiden breakthrough for India in quick time after sending back Paul Stirling to the pavilion. James Shanon was the only bright spot for Ireland while they were batting. He was quite spectacular and smashed a 35-ball 60 which included five fours and four sixes. The rest of the Irish batsman never managed to get any sort of score under their belt.

The spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal was yet again at their best. They bagged seven wickets between each other and was a terror to the Irish batting line-up.

Men in Blue bowlers kept on bamboozling them with their variations. While Kuldeep bagged four, Chahal chipped in with three. India eventually restricted Ireland to 132 for nine in their 20 overs.

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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, Kuldeep Yadav 4/21, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/38)

India won by 76 runs