India's innings folded for 148 in 18.5 overs while chasing the target of 183 runs.
India suffered a shocking 34-run defeat against Ireland in the first T20I of the two-match series at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast on Friday (June 26). This turned out to be the first win for the Irish team against the Men in Blue across formats.
Ireland captain Lorcan Tucker hit a crucial 50 off 36 balls, while Gareth Delany smashed a quickfire 49 off 32 balls, driving their team to a competitive 182/9 after the hosts were reduced to 30/3 inside the powerplay.
India's response collapsed completely despite a fiery half-century by opener Abhishek Sharma, who scored 50 runs off just 20 balls. The remainder of the batting order crumbled under pressure, leaving the visitors all out for 148 in 18.5 overs.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, former India opener Sadagoppan Ramesh strongly criticized the national team following their dismal show in the series opener against Ireland. He blamed the loss on overconfidence, stating that Shreyas Iyer-led squad treated the series casually as a "picnic".
"Ireland deserves praise for using the bigger boundaries and testing the Indian batters out with the short delivery. It was clear that India played the match casually. They thought the Ireland series was a picnic tour, they would win easily, and they were serious only about the England series. But Ireland taught India a lesson by saying this is no picnic spot,” Ramesh said.
“The Ireland series was not even originally scheduled. It was like a pickle to the main course, which was England. But India embarrassingly couldn’t handle the spice of the pickle, which is Ireland. Irrespective of what excuses can be cooked up for this, it’s a shocking and terrible defeat for Team India. Overconfidence is never healthy, and it’s because of that that India’s story was over last night. India must be confident but not overconfident,” he added.
Ramesh stated that it was unacceptable to see India go down without fighting, especially just months after winning the T20 World Cup. He called out lazy ground fielding and dropped catches, which allowed Ireland to post a strong total of 182.
“Yes, even an elephant occasionally slips up. But how can it happen against Ireland? This is a shocker, especially for a team whose last T20 match was the final of a World Cup. After a month of T20 cricket in the World Cup, all the Indian players played another 3 months of IPL. To play 4 months of continuous T20 cricket and then lose to Ireland is unexplainable,” said Ramesh.
“India played shockingly poor cricket. They’ve been dropping catches from the T20 World Cup to the IPL to yesterday. They seem to always drop high catches. In the IPL, you can just bat or bowl and hide your fielding because of the Impact Player option. But in international cricket, you have to be a good fielder to be in the 11. Many players escaped in the IPL because of the Impact Player rule by just batting,” he remarked.
India will be keen to bounce back and draw the series when they lock horns with Ireland in the second and final T20I on Sunday (June 28).