Ireland beat West Indies by 4 runs in the first high scoring thriller T20I at National Cricket Stadium in Grenada yesterday night and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.
Earlier Ireland won the toss and opted to bat first. Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien gave a flying start and added record 93 runs for no loss in the powerplay and their 154 runs opening partnership set the platform for a big score but after their dismissals, Ireland lost the way and could manage only 55 runs in the last 8 overs and ended on 208/7. Paul Stirling played 95 runs knock off just 47 balls. In reply West Indies also started off very well and their all batsmen continued to hit big shots and kept West Indies alive in the match. In the end, West Indies needed 16 runs off 12 balls but Craig Young and Joshua Little's brilliant bowling didn't allow the hosts to score those runs and helped their team to win the game by just 4 runs.
All the major stats and facts from the first T20I between West Indies and Ireland in Grenada
4 - Ireland's 4 run-win is their joint fourth-smallest win in T20I cricket in terms of runs and smallest against a Test-playing nation.
17 - Number of fifty-plus scores Paul Stirling has made in T20I cricket - the joint third-most in the world.
Most fifty-plus scores in T20I cricket -
24 - Virat Kohli
23 - Rohit Sharma
17 - Paul Stirling / Martin Guptill
16 - David Warner
93/0 - Ireland scored 93 runs without any loss of a wicket in the powerplay - the most runs scored in the powerplay in T20Is.
95 - Runs score is the highest individual score for Paul Stirling in T20Is and he also became the sixth batsman to score two 90s in T20I cricket.
Batsmen to score two 90s in T20I cricket -
Virat Kohli
Chris Gayle
Alex Hales
Babar Azam
Shikhar Dhawan
Paul Stirling
154 - Runs partnership between Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien is the highest ever partnership for Ireland for any wicket in T20I cricket.
Highest partnerships for Ireland in T20Is -
154 - Paul Stirling / Kevin O'Brien (1st wkt) vs WI at Grenada, 2020
126 - Paul Stirling / Kevin O'Brien (1st wkt) vs AFG at Dehradun, 2019
115 - Paul Stirling / Kevin O'Brien (1st wkt) vs Scotland at Al Amerat, 2019
1012 - Lendl Simmons when on 10, completed 1000 runs in T20I format - only the fifth West Indies player to achieve this milestone. It was also the 50th T20I match of Lendl Simmons.
Most T20I runs for WI -
1627 - Chris Gayle
1611 - Marlon Samuels
1151 - Dwayne Bravo
1089 - Kieron Pollard
1012 - Lendl Simmons
2024 - Paul Stirling when on 71, became the first Ireland and overall eighth batsman to score 2000 runs in T20I cricket.
2000 or more runs in T20I cricket -
2689 - Virat Kohli
2633 - Rohit Sharma
2436 - Martin Guptill
2263 - Shoaib Malik
2140 - Brendon McCullum
2079 - David Warner
2024 - Paul Stirling
2002 - Eoin Morgan
