In what turned out to be a game marred by rain, India registered a narrow two-run win over Ireland via the DLS Method to take a 1-0 lead in the T20I series.
In pursuit of a rather below-par target of 140, India began on a good note, with the opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad crunching horizontal-bat shots and drives. However, against the run of play, Jaiswal charged down the deck to Craig Young and could only slice it to the fielder at midwicket. The very next ball, Tilak Varma was caught down leg. Sanju Samson then picked up a single while facing the hat-trick ball, followed by Gaikwad swaying away from a short ball. With the score reading 47 for 2, after 6.5 overs, the heavens opened up. Unfortunately, the rain didn’t relent and the tourists triumphed on the basis of DLS.
In hindsight, Young could have gone fuller on his hat-trick ball, with the ball zoomed in on the stumps. At that juncture, another wicket would have resulted in Ireland finding themselves ahead on the basis of DLS. Earlier, on his return to international cricket, Jasprit Bumrah, had bagged two wickets in his first over itself. He also finished with creditable figures of 2 for 24 from 4 overs.
On a pitch that offered consistent seam movement upfront, Balbirnie was done in by a delivery that swung and then nipped back off the seam considerably. The former Ireland skipper could only eke out an inside edge onto the stumps. In the same over, Lorcan Tucker ramped one to the ‘keeper. Prasidh Krishna, also returning from a back injury, then extracted bounce and bagged a couple of wickets. Ravi Bishnoi also chipped in with two scalps as Ireland slipped to 59 for 6.
At that stage, Curtis Campher, the all-rounder, and Barry McCarthy strung together a stand of 57. After Campher was dismissed in the 18th over, McCarthy took over by thumping Arshdeep Singh for two sixes and a boundary in the last over to take Ireland to a score of some respectability.