Team India Humiliated: World Champions India Lose to Ireland for the First Time Ever
BELFAST: Under the new captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, India’s T20 team suffered a major embarrassment on Irish soil. India went down by 34 runs in the opening match of the series on Friday. Ireland registered their first-ever victory over India in international cricket, achieving the historic feat on home ground.
Chasing a modest target of 183, India’s star-studded lineup was bowled out for just 148 runs. Not a single Indian batter managed to score a half-century.
World No. 1 India Lose to 12th-Ranked Ireland
World No. 1 India surrendered against 12th-ranked Ireland. Indian batters, who had lit up the recently concluded IPL with centuries and half-centuries, failed to cope with the Irish bowlers and were beaten in the 19th over. Now the big question, Will India avoid 0-2 whitewash tommorow? India will play last T20 on the same ground in Sunday.
Before this match, Ireland had lost all eight T20 internationals against India since 2009. Like Shreyas Iyer, Ireland captain Lorcan Tucker was also leading his side for the first time, but unlike his Indian counterpart, he enjoyed a successful debut as captain.
This was India’s first T20 match since becoming T20 world champions, and it ended in a shocking defeat against Ireland. The same Indian batters who regularly posted 200-plus and even 250-plus totals in the IPL could not even reach 150 runs.
Vaibhav Left Out, Team India Criticised on Social Media
India, who became T20 world champions for the third time before the IPL, decided to retain their championship-winning combination and did not hand a debut to Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The decision drew criticism after the defeat, as only Abhishek Sharma impressed among the top-order batters.
Abhishek scored 49 runs off 20 balls, hitting two sixes and seven fours. Apart from him, wicketkeeper Sanju Samson (5), Ishan Kishan (1), captain Shreyas Iyer (3), Tilak Varma (19) and Washington Sundar (9) all failed to make meaningful contributions.
Birthday boy Shivam Dube scored 25 runs but could not guide India to victory, while Axar Patel managed only 15 runs.
Soon after the defeat, social media was flooded with comments suggesting that India paid the price for not giving IPL sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi his much-anticipated debut.
Spinner Matthew Humphreys and Player of the Match Matt Hollard claimed three wickets each. Indian-origin left-arm pacer Jay Mundra also troubled India significantly, dismissing both Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube. Liam McCarthy and Gareth Delany picked up one wicket apiece.
The second and final T20 International of the series will be played in Belfast on Sunday (6:00 PM IST).
Also Read: Who Is Jai Moondra? India-Born Pacer Dismisses Sanju Samson With First Ball on Ireland Debut