Ireland vs India: 1st T20I, 2018 - Who Said What

The first T20I in Dublin panned out on expected lines, Team India posted a huge first innings total and the Irish fell way short of the target. It was well-accepted fact that the two teams are no match to one another and in the end, the gap was 76 runs. Gary Wilson won the toss and asked the Indians to bat first. On a good batting wicket that was not a bad position to be in.

After the kind of start, their openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan powered them to Virat Kohli would’ve rather been happy with how things panned out at the toss. Dhawan was the first to get going and played a wide range of shots square of the wicket on the off-side and on-side as well as down the ground. Rohit also got his touch soon enough and both of them literally toyed with the Ireland bowling.

They had a 160-run partnership and set Team India up for a 200-plus runs total. Dhawan was dismissed on 74 from 45 balls while Rohit carried on and looked good for his third T20I hundred but fell just three runs short. There was not a lot of contribution from others in the lineup and India closed the innings on 208/5.

Ireland had a beyond uphill task ahead of them chasing that big a target against a bowling lineup like India that has enormous experience in this format of the game. Jasprit Bumrah made early inroad and sent their most experienced campaigner Paul Stirling back into the hut. Once Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal into the attack wickets fell almost every over. The two wrist spinners shared 7 wickets between them and most Irish batsmen couldn’t get hold of the situation.

James Shannon who got a couple of lives as Chahal and Rohit dropped two skiers made the most of it and converted it into his first half century in T20I cricket. His 60 was the only substantial contribution in the game and the Irish innings wrapped up on 132/9 in 20 overs.

Indian captain Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation said:

Opening combination was excellent. Great effort by Rohit and Shikhar to put us in the good position. And good strikes from MS, Raina and Pandya in the end. Bowlers did a clinical job too.

We are going to be flexible in the next few T-20 matches. It presents the opportunity for the batsmen who don’t get the opportunity to bat. The guys who don’t get a chance too will get an opportunity in the next match. The guys are fine with this decision.

Kuldeep Yadav was the Man of the Match and said:

This is my first trip to UK and it has started well. I think the wicket was good to bat on and it was turning a little bit. We bowled variations and tried to bowl in the right areas. Me and Chahal talk a lot when we bowl. First Chahal bowled and he told me that pitch is little slow. If we use variations nicely it will be difficult for England too.

Irish skipper Gary Wilson said:

They are a world class side and their top-2 played beautifully. I did not expect it to spin as it did in the second innings. We could have bowled spinners in the powerplay. We are going to have a chat to tackle their spinners.

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