IRE Vs IND: India has won the first T20 International match which was also a rain-hit encounter yesterday at "The Village" stadium in Dublin.
The Indian pace bowlers did a wonderful job at the start and the spin bowlers also joined the party later.
The new-looked team, captain and coaching staff were on the mark in yesterday’s match. India’s new skipper of the T20 International format, Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and elected to bowl first.
His decision was spot on because the conditions in Dublin were suitable for the fast bowlers.
The Pacers rattled the top order of the Irish team pretty early. The home side batters of Ireland couldn’t come to terms with handling the red-hot Indian bowlers, who were excellent with their lines and lengths.
The poor shot selection was the reason as well for their downfall.
One issue which loomed large in the first game was India’s bowling in the backend overs. The bowlers of the men in the blue side had the Irish team on the mat.
Ireland was reduced to 59 runs for the loss of six quick wickets and it didn’t look like they would last for 20 overs.
It was Curtis Campher and Barry McCarthy who bailed their team out of trouble. Campher scored valuable 39 runs and McCarthy smashed a brilliant half-century.
Barry was unbeaten till the end on 51 runs which he scored from just 33 balls with four boundaries and that many sixes.
The partnership between Campher and Barry allowed Ireland to post a modest score of 139 runs on the board.
India’s bowling in the final overs is still a worry just like 2022. Despite Jasprit Bumrah was in the team, India still leaked runs during the backend overs.
Jasprit Bumrah had a terrific return to the international level and that too after a long injury break. He was also awarded the Man of the Match award for his spell with the new ball.
Boom Boom picked up 2 wickets and he bowled his full quota of four overs in the first game.
Jasprit Bumrah picked up the wickets of the former Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker. Bumrah’s first delivery of the match was dispatched to the boundary.
But the 26-year-old star pacer made a comeback when he picked up Balbirnie on the next ball. Andrew was clean-bowled for just four runs.
Later the wicket-keeper batter of the Irish side tried to be too smart against a bowler like Bumrah and Locran Tucker had to play a heavy price for that as well.
Tucker tried to outfox Bumrah and he was caught by Sanju Samson for a golden duck.
Bumrah got the man of the award in the end as India won the match by 2 runs through the DLS method and he is the first Indian cricketer to win the MOM award as captain on his first game of the shortest format.