IRE v IND 2022: Indian cricket fraternity reacts as India seal clinical 7-wicket win in 1st T20I

India chased down the target with 16 balls to spare.

Team India take 1-0 lead in Ireland | Getty Images

Hardik Pandya-led India won the first of the two-match T20I series against Ireland by seven wickets at Malahide on Sunday (June 26).

India's stand-in captain won the toss and opted to bowl first but constant rain delayed the start of the match by more than two hours as the match was reduced to a 12 overs per-side contest.

India handed out a debut cap to speedster Umran Malik, while Ireland did the same to Conor Olphert.

READ ALSO: Umran Malik receives his India T20I debut cap from Bhuvneshwar Kumar; Irfan Pathan, SRH lead wishes

The hosts were reduced to 22/3 in the fourth over but recovered well to post 108/4 on the board thanks to Harry Tector's unbeaten 64 in 33 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/16), Hardik Pandya (1/26), Avesh Khan (1/22) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/11) were among the wickets for the visitors.

India's reply with the bat was kick-started by in-form opener Ishan Kishan, who smashed 26 in 11 balls, though he had a different partner in Deepak Hooda as Ruturaj Gaikwad did not come out to bat for reasons not known at the time of writing this.

Suryakumar Yadav on his comeback after injury was dismissed for a golden duck but Hooda (47*), captain Hardik Pandya (24) and Dinesh Karthik (5*)  finished off the game with 16 balls to spare. Craig Young (2/18) and Josh Little (1/39) were the only Irish bowlers to taste some success.

Chahal was named the Player-of-the-Match for his economical spell of 1/11 in three overs. The second and final match of the T20I series will be played on Tuesday at the same venue.

Here are some of the Twitter reactions post India's victory:

 

 
 

By Saurabh Malhotra - 26 Jun, 2022

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