India lost the first T20I to Ireland by 34 runs in Belfast.
Thanks to 50 by Lorcan Tucker on his Ireland captaincy debut and 49 by Gareth Delany pushed Ireland to 182/9 after they were asked to bat first after India’s new T20I captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss. While Harshit Rana picked 3/24 on his India return, Prasidh Krishna was hammered for 57 runs in his 4 overs.
He was taken for 27 runs in the 17th over by Delany who hammered three sixes and 2 fours in six balls.
"Gareth Delany taking down Prasidh Krishna in the 17th over was the turning point. It put a lot of pressure on India and imagine Axar Patel bowled the 18th and 20th overs. It tells you Shreyas Iyer has front-loaded his pacers, hoping they would give wickets, but that didn't happen. Because of that, the Indian bowling was met with at the backend,” Kartik said on Cricbuzz.
In response to the 183-run target, only Abhishek Sharma made 49, as India was bowled out for 148 runs and lost the game by 34 runs. Ireland’s Matthew Humphreys (3/38) and Matt Holland (3/28) were the pick of the bowlers.
"Abhishek Sharma was the only one who got going. India's middle-order completely faltered and put a lot of pressure on those that batted after. Ireland didn't even have many of their core players, which adds more context to this historic win.
Despite Abhishek's brilliant start, because of the scoreboard pressure, there were lot of aerial shots through the middle. But none of them connected and in a ground like Belfast, which is awkwardly-shaped, it didn't help India. The cluster of wickets in the middle meant the pressure was always on India. Ireland out batted, outbawled and definitely out fielded India,” Karthik added.
On Sunday, June 28, Team India will play Ireland in the second and final Twenty20 International at the same location in an attempt to escape a humiliating series loss.