Twitter Reactions: Deepak Hooda's 104 and Sanju Samson's 77 propel India to 227 against Ireland

Indian batters Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson thrashed the Ireland bowling line-up during the second and final T20I against Ireland. The Men in Green bowlers had no answers to tackle the aggressive batting of both batters as the visitors went on to cross the 200-run mark easily. Hooda was on another level as he completed his first international century.

Indian skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to have a bat first. The Irish side got some success during the starting phase of the match as they got the big wicket of Ishan Kishan. Samson was then joined by Hooda and both started cautiously, but as they both got set, they started to hit boundaries.

Samson and Hooda stitched a partnership of 176 runs

From 13/1, the duo of Samson and Hooda took India’s score past the 180-run mark. None of the Irish bowlers created problems for the Indian batters as they completed their fifties in no time. Samson was more of an aggressor between the two batters early on as he went on to stroke 77 runs in just 42 balls hitting nine fours and four maximums. However, Hooda took over the carnage in the middle overs smashing the bowlers at will and reaching the century off 55 balls only. But India lost their way a bit after Ireland broke the second-wicket partnership.

After the fall of Samson, Suryakumar Yadav came to the crease and started hitting right from ball one. The right-handed batter scored 15 runs in just four balls before being scalped by Joshua Little. India then lost a cluster of wickets as Deepak Hooda (104 runs), Dinesh Karthik (0), Axar Patel (0), and Harshal (0) got out quickly. Skipper Pandya’s (15* off nine) balls ensured that the Men in the Blue finished on 227/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

For Ireland, pacers Mark Adair (three), Craig Young (two), and Little (two) were the successful bowlers, but they were also expensive in their four overs quota. None of Ireland’s bowlers managed to keep the Indian batters in control as they got punished by the visitor’s batting line-up. The home side will now have a daunting task to chase a big total of 228, but they will try to give their best.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Well done #deepakhooda your grind in domestic level is paying off! May you continue the good work 👍 #IREvIND

— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) June 28, 2022

And after that Hooda & Samson show. Selectors’ headache has nicely turned into a migraine.#T20WorldCup

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) June 28, 2022

Top notch performance by @HoodaOnFire to bring up his maiden century 💯 and great knock by @IamSanjuSamson too! Mature innings with some sensational hitting across the park 🔥 Well done to make the most of the opportunity given to you #INDvsIre @BCCI

— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) June 28, 2022

During the IPL, Spoke to @HoodaOnFire abt getting 💯 but even better for him to get the century for Team India 🇮🇳! So so proud of this boy 👏 pic.twitter.com/fh7BzgvOma

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) June 28, 2022

Grabbing the opportunity well 👏 @IamSanjuSamson

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) June 28, 2022

So happy for Sanju Samson. First half century for Indiaim T20I’s. And loving the partnership with Deepak Hooda by the way👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻.

— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) June 28, 2022

Well played Sanju Samson 77(42) that's a crazy stuff from you and we had been waiting to see this kind of inning from you for a very long time#SanjuSamson pic.twitter.com/UEfLpKYOIL

— Rockstar MK (@RockstarMK11) June 28, 2022

77 (42) on his comeback. This is Sanju Samson. 💪🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/yLE1fHUDQK

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) June 28, 2022

Innings Break!

A mammoth 176 run partnership between @HoodaOnFire & @IamSanjuSamson propels #TeamIndia to a total of 227/7 on the board.

Scorecard – https://t.co/6Ix0a6dXCj #IREvIND pic.twitter.com/UkqThwKHVU

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 28, 2022