IRE vs IND: 1st T20I, Review- Rohit-Dhawan combo and spin-twin hand Ireland a crushing defeat

Prior to their match versus Ireland, India were touted to be the favorites, which wasn’t surprising. The dimensions of the Malahide Cricket Ground aren’t intimidating from a batsman’s point of view and hence the match was expected to be a high scoring one. The Indian players plied their trade in the IPL and Virat Kohli mentioned at the toss that they will be well prepared for this format.

Ireland’s recently concluded tri-nation series wasn’t a joyful one as they could only manage one victory out of four. Gary Wilson & Co. needed something herculean effort to turn over the might of the visitors. The encounter turned out to be pretty one-sided as Ireland were no match for the experienced team from Asia and the Men in Blue cantered to a victory by 76 runs in Dublin.

Rohit and Dhawan blaze away

On a bright and sunny afternoon, Ireland won the toss and elected to field first. The first over from Boyd Rankin was a tidy one, but Stuart Thompson conceded 17 runs in the second over when Shikhar Dhawan laid on to him. Virat’s boys didn’t backtrack from there onwards. Dhawan along with Rohit Sharma racked up 59 runs in the powerplay. Rohit looked a tad edgy but managed to survive the initial overs.

At the end of the 10th over, the Blue Army notched 94 runs and well and truly threatened to put a massive score on the board. In the next over, Dhawan accomplished his half-century with a thumping whack into the stands off left-arm spinner George Dockrell. In the 13th over from Kevin O’Brien, Rohit also brought up his fifty. Both carried on and eventually put on a stand of 160 runs from 96 balls.

The stand was ended by O’Brien as Dhawan attempted to clear the boundary only to find the hands of Thompson at long-off. Rohit carried on his own merry way. Suresh Raina, who came in at number three, ahead of Kohli, found the boundary twice but became Peter Chase’s first victim. MS Dhoni entertained the crowd with a four and a six and took India over the 200-run mark

However, he succumbed to a mistimed pull shot. Rohit, who looked all set to notch his third T20I ton, went for a hoick only to see his woodwork rattled at a score of 97. Kohli demoted himself down to as low as number six and couldn’t contribute. He went for a duck as Chase picked up his fourth wicket. Hardik Pandya cleared the ropes off the fast-bowler and took his team up to 208 runs for five wickets.

Ireland slump against Kuldeep and Chahal

The target of 209 was always going to be an uphill task against the experienced Indian bowlers. Paul Stirling and James Shannon opened the batting, but the hosts got off to the worst possible start as Stirling, one of their most explosive batsmen, was nipped out by Jasprit Bumrah in the second over. Andy Balbirnie joined Shannon in the middle and the duo put 41 runs in 31 balls to reignite the home team’s hope of giving India a run for their money.

Shannon was agricultural in his stroke-making and ensured that runs kept flowing from his willow. Balbirnie looked uncomfortable during his 14-ball stint and fell prey to Yuzvendra Chahal’s guile and trajectory. Dhoni took off the bails in a flash and got the right-handed batsman. Simi Singh, the Punjab-born batter couldn’t get going either and was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav.

Meanwhile, Shannon after getting a couple of lives via dropped catches racked up his maiden fifty in T20Is from 29 balls and was Ireland’s major hope, provided they fathomed to get even close to the visiting team’s score. Kuldeep got rid of in the 12th over to rip the heart out of the hosts’ batting lineup. By the time he walked back, the required rate had already shot up to 15, probably out of reach of the team.

The skipper himself couldn’t make any impact and turned out to be Chahal’s third wicket. Kevin O’Brien didn’t have any option and had to play his strokes from the word go. The hulk-like batsman smashed Chahal downtown for a six, however, couldn’t carry on as the leggie pinned him in the very next ball. The last few overs were mere formalities. Kuldeep was the standout bowler with four wickets.

Brief Scores

India: 208/5 in 20 overs; (Rohit Sharma 97, Shikhar Dhawan 74; Peter Chase 4/35, Kevin O’Brien 1/36)

Ireland: 132/9 in 20 overs; (James Shannon 60, Stuart Thompson 12; Kuldeep Yadav 4/21, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/38)

India beat Ireland by 76 runs

Player of the Match: Kuldeep Yadav  

India lead the series 1-0