Ireland creates history as overconfident India stumbles against inspired Irish bowling
Ireland – 182/9 (Lorcan Tucker 50 (36 balls), Gareth Delany 49 (32 balls), Harshit Rana 24/3) won against India – 148 (Abhishek Sharma 50 (20 balls), Matt Hollard 28/3)
Ireland wins by 34 runs. Man of the Match – Matt Hollard
India, playing their first T20 match since winning the T20 World Cup, were given a rude awakening by an inexperienced Irish side in the 1st T20 in Belfast. Choosing to stay close to their World Cup-winning template, they chose to go in with their experienced batsmen. It also meant that the highly anticipated debut for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi did not materialise. Winning the toss, India bowled first and had the match well under control till the first quarter of the match.
Some middle-order heroics from Lorcan Tucker and Gareth Delany helped Ireland pose a slightly above-par score of 182. The total was well within the reach of the Indian batsmen, but some rash strokes led to regular wickets, and they were bowled out for 148. The 34-run defeat should be a reality check for the Indians, who have to realise that there are other avenues of scoring beyond six-hitting, and that one has to come to terms with the pitch and bowling attack before going for the big shots.
Both Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana found some early swing, but the Irish openers Tim Tector and Ross Adair started their innings all guns blazing. This frantic approach also proved to be their downfall as Adair top-edged a pull off Harshit for Sanju Samson to position himself and take a comfortable high catch with his keeping gloves.
Tim Tector was lucky to escape as he tried to launch a length ball from Arshdeep, and the skyer was parried over the deep midwicket boundary by Shivam Dube running backwards, as he went for the difficult chance. Tim’s brother at no. 3, Harry Tector, was not so lucky as he nicked one behind in the same over to be pouched by the keeper for a duck. Tim followed soon after as he charged down and heaved at a length delivery from Harshit to be caught at mid-off.
Scoring 30/3 in 3.4 overs, Ireland had tried to make use of the powerplay, but were losing wickets at an alarming rate. Only 6 more runs were scored in the remaining 14 balls of the power play as Ireland tried to steady the ship. Ben Calitz then opened up in Prasidh’s first over with a couple of sixers. Just when they were starting to look somewhat comfortable, Calitz was dismissed in Dube’s first ball of the match, top edging a pull to short fine leg, as Prashidh completed a smart catch.
At 51/4, Ireland was in a bit of a pickle and could not afford to take any more risks. Dube was doing his job as the fourth seamer admirably, and Ireland were struggling to score freely. The score at the end of 10 overs was 68/4. Ireland was going nowhere, and something had to give.
The spinners were yet to bowl, and Lorcan Tucker decided to take his chance against Axar Patel. He started with a straight six over the bowler’s head. Gareth Delany, on the other hand, tried charging against the same bowler, popping up one high in the air. Abhishek Sharma at long on got slightly distracted by Arshdeep coming in front of him and fluffed the easiest of chances. Axar was unlucky again in his next over as Washington Sundar was unable to hold on to a difficult chance to dismiss Tucker at wide long on, conceding a boundary instead.
16 runs were conceded in that over, including a six and a couple of boundaries by Tucker, who soon brought up his 50 off 35 balls. Harshit’s final over brought him another wicket, as Tucket smashed one straight to the deep midwicket fielder. Ireland was 118/5 in 15 overs and would have been hoping to reach the 160-165 range.
Shreyas Iyer, who had captained the team admirably so far, then made his first significant miscalculation. Dube had bowled well, but was replaced by Washington to bowl the 16th over. George Dockrell, who had just come in, was offered a juicy high full toss which was blasted over deep midwicket for a six. To aggravate the situation, it was also a no-ball. The only thing missing was the gift wrapping. 19 runs in the over, and the Ireland innings was up and running.
Next over from Prasidh was even better from Ireland’s point of view. Either too full or too short, he was taken to the cleaners and conceded an eye-watering 27 runs, finishing the day at 57/0 in 4 overs. Delany closed the over with a boundary and three consecutive sixes. The last two of them, off fuller, slower deliveries over the bowler’s head, were the shots of the day. Delany had been pottering around at 16 in 19 balls before Sundar’s over, and by the end of Prasidh’s spell was on 43 off 25 balls.
At 164/5 after 17 overs, Ireland would have been eyeing 200, but Axar and Arshdeep bowled cannily and did well to concede only 18 runs for 4 wickets, including a last-ball runout. With the start Ireland had, a total of 182 would have been something India wouldn’t have bargained for. But it was well within reach for their explosive batting lineup.
With many of their first-choice bowlers either injured or unavailable, the Irish bowling was pretty inexperienced. Their pace attack comprised debutants Jai Moondra, originally from Rajasthan, and Matt Hollard. Liam McCarthy, the other pacer in the team, had played only one T20I before this match. India started as if they were playing for the NRR in an IPL game. This made for some action-packed initial overs. First over, bowled by left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys, went for 16.
Moondra bowled the 2nd over and had Sanju Samson dragged on to his stumps in his very first ball in international cricket. Not one to back down, Abhishek went harder as he flicked Moondra for a six over backward square leg. McCarthy was then clattered for 21 runs as Abhishek used the cut and lofted cover drive to good effect.
Hollard then proceeded to get a wicket in his 2nd international delivery as Ishan Kishan spliced a flick high to be caught by the wicket keeper. Some offside punishment from Abhishek did not deter the debutant, as Hollard had Shreyas flicking straight to deep square leg. At 60/3, India still had enough batters to get them through. Thanks to the initial onslaught by Abhishek, the run rate was also never out of reach.
What followed next would be a cause for concern for the team management. Batters repeatedly got themselves dismissed playing low percentage shots, often towards the longer boundaries. It was as if there was only one viable way of scoring, and the good old qualities of batting, like application and adaptability, were all obsolete in modern cricket. Situational awareness went missing as India started to dig themselves into a bigger hole. Ireland, on their part, sensed the Indian batsmen’s inclination to hit out and used the cutters to good effect.
Abhishek had scored a sparkling half-century off 19 balls, but pulled an off cutter from McCarthy straight down deep midwicket’s throat. Tilak was anchoring the chase but inexplicably went for an expansive reverse sweep off Humphreys straight to backward point. Washington Sundar never looked comfortable as he mishit a few before becoming Hollard’s third victim as he pulled straight to deep midwicket, replicating Abhishek’s dismissal.
By the 12th over, India had lost 6 wickets and had 100 runs on the board. As things were looking dire, an enormous six hammered by Dube over long on off Harry Tector provided some optimism. The pacers had done the majority of the bowling till the 14th over, and spinners still had to bowl at least 3 of the remaining overs. Dube, with his ability to go big against the spinners, was the last remaining hope for India.
The 15th and 16th overs were a testament to the Irish resolve to win this game and also to India’s inability to respond to the situation. With 68 required in 36 balls, the first ball of the 15th over, bowled by Humphrey, was driven for four by Axar. The next four balls went for only four runs, despite Humphrey having injured his bowling hand as he went for a caught and bowled chance off Axar and getting hit smack on his left thumb.
He received some treatment to stop the bleeding and, henceforth, was unable to impart much spin to the ball, but carried on bowling. The last ball went for a six as Dube finally got hold of one, but the grit shown by the bowler was exemplary.
Moondra was brought back in the 16th over, meaning that two of the remaining overs would have to be bowled by a spinner, one of them being injured. With 54 required in 30 balls, there were two options for India. One was to play out the over safely, and the other was to start going big. India did neither, as 6 runs were scored, and Dube was caught and bowled off another cutter.
India still needed 48 in 24 balls, and with the batting remaining, the match was effectively over. Axar soon went slogging straight to long on. Harshit Rana hit an impressive six, but that was about it. There was enough time for Ireland to finally drop a dolly to repay India for their generosity, as Harry Tector was unable to hold one and denied Moondra his third wicket of the day.
Amazingly, Humphreys came back to bowl his final over and picked up two more wickets to win the game for Ireland. After having faced a tough time on the field in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, they have fielded brilliantly here, diving and throwing themselves around, saving each run and making overall life difficult for the Indian batsmen. A complete team effort, they thoroughly deserved their first-ever victory over India.
Getting upset once in a while at a spirited display from a lower-ranked team is part and parcel of T20 and adds to the charm of the format. But India would be quite disappointed, more for the manner in which they have played than the result of the match. While the bowling was disappointing, the inability of the batting lineup to adapt would rankle the most. Batting in only one gear may help you win under familiar conditions, but to win across the world, one needs to first assess and then play according to the situation. A tough captaincy initiation for Shreyas Iyer, one hopes it will only get better from here on.