India’s batsmen did rather well in the second Twenty20 international against Ireland in Dublin, scoring a very competitive 185 after being given the opportunity to bat first, but the bowlers finished off a convincing 33-run victory to win the series. Before Rinku Singh gave the game its final push with a quickfire 38, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson laid the groundwork for victory with a quick 71-run stand.
Early conflict and consolidation
After winning the toss, Ireland decided to bowl, and they somewhat edged the first exchanges. Craig Young and Barry McCarthy quickly dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma, dropping India from 26/0 to 34/2. India reached 47 after six overs, with just one boundary coming off the final 12 balls of the PowerPlay.
Gaikwad only managed to earn 21 points off of his first 19 balls, but he managed to strike fours off each of the following three balls to give the innings some momentum. Samson then took back control of India’s innings with an 18-run takedown of Joshua Little, swiveling the compensation ball for six and hitting a trio of boundaries through the off-side. Benjamin White’s bowling eventually resulted in Samson being removed for a 26-ball 40, struck with a heavy inside edge.
Gaikwad scores another fifty in a T20I
For Gaikwad, who reached his second 50 in T20Is by sweeping White for a boundary, there was no slip-up in the face of a milestone, unlike Samson, who lost out on a half-century. After helping himself to a six in that over, he left for a 43-ball 58 due to an error in the next over.
The final charge from Rinku
When Gaikwad was out in the 16th over, India’s innings abruptly lost momentum, scoring just 14 runs in the next three overs before the final two. At the center of that go-slow, trudging to a run-a-ball 15, was Rinku Singh. McCarthy, who had been Ireland’s top bowler up to that point, received harsh criticism. Rinku fired the next ball over long-on for six after slicing a wide delivery past the backward point for four. McCarthy, who was under pressure, sent two wide balls before delivering another slot ball, which Rinku sliced over further cover for six.
Before departing off the last ball for a 21-ball 38, Rinku hit a third six in Mark Adair’s final over. India gained a 42-run swing off the final 12 deliveries because of two sixes from Shivam Dube.
In the PowerPlay, Prasidh breaks the back of the pursuit
Prasidh Krishna’s use of the short ball to dismiss both Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker in his first over allowed India to capitalize on the momentum from the last phase of their pursuit. Harry Tector was clean bowled after failing to read a Ravi Bishnoi googly. They were perpetually in the red after managing only 31/3 in the PowerPlay.
Balbirnie maintains dwindling hopes; Bumrah scalps two wickets
Ireland had a run rate of just over one run per ball at the 10-over point of the chase. Off 29 balls, Andrew Balbirnie scored 30 of those runs. He hit Bishnoi for a boundary and two sixes off Shivam Dube to reach his half-century in 39 balls. Balbirnie hit two more sixes against Prasidh and Arshdeep Singh before the latter forced him to edge a wide and full delivery after being spared by a Gaikwad drop. Ireland needed 63 runs from 26 balls when Balbirnie was out for 72 (51). Jasprit Bumrah, the skipper of India, underlined his promising comeback to international cricket by claiming two additional wickets to secure the victory.
