Despite Andrew Balbirnie’s gritty 72, Ireland slipped to a 33-run loss against India in the second T20I in Dublin. With this victory, the visitors also took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
In pursuit of a sizeable total of 185, Ireland lost both Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker in the third over. Prasidh Krishna, the 6’2″ pace bowler, showcased his hit-the-deck skills by hitting the bat hard on impact to pick both those wickets. Harry Tector too didn’t last long as he was castled by Ravi Bishnoi.
Curtis Campher and George Dockrell did share useful stands of 37 and 52 with Balbirnie but by then the result of the match was more or less a foregone conclusion. On his part, Balbirnie cracked some fine pulls and slog-sweeps but he had too much to do. Prasidh returned fine figures of 2 for 29 while Jasprit Bumrah, the skipper, took a couple of wickets at the fag end of the innings.
The foundation for India’s win was laid out by Ruturaj Gaikwad (58 runs), Sanju Samson (40 runs) and Rinku Singh (38 runs). At 34 for 2, India were in a spot of bother, but Samson and Gaikwad resurrected the innings with a stand of 71 in just over 8 overs. Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh then provided the finishing touches in the slog with a partnership of 55.
However, for a while, Dube did struggle versus Ireland’s shorter length deliveries. Eventually, in the last over, he got a couple of deliveries in his arc as he cleared the front leg to thump over fine leg and midwicket. Meanwhile, Rinku found his groove in the over before that, tonking Barry McCarthy for three sixes over four deliveries. Despite going for plenty of runs in his last over, McCarthy turned out to be the most successful bowler for Ireland, taking a couple of wickets.
The third and final T20I will be played at the same ground on August 23.