Rain, cold and wind – Dublin served up ideal conditions to please the fast bowlers. and they did for a while when India New-ball bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Avesh Khan reduced Ireland to 22/3 inside the powerplay.
And then Harry Tector took over and worked his way up to a blistering half-century. He hit six fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 64 in The Village. Ireland posted a challenging score of 108/4 in 12 overs.
Only two Indian bowlers narrowly survived out of the six used for the first T20I. Bhuvneshwar bowled three overs and conceded just 16 runs for one wicket. The second legspinner was Yuzvendra Chahal who also bowled three overs but conceded just 11 runs and also took the crucial wicket of Lorcan Tucker.
He pulled off an economy of 3.7 despite the small size of the ground, a feat in itself and acknowledged when Chahal was equally, if not more, than Tector, and Bhuvneshwar’s lucrative performances notwithstanding. was selected as the player.
Chahal said the freezing conditions made life very difficult for a spinner on Sunday.
“Very tough (conditions). I was feeling like a finger spinner today. Sometimes it is tough but you have to adapt to every situation,” Chahal said during the post-match presentation.
Pandya made his India captaincy debut in Dublin and Chahal praised the all-rounder. He said, ‘He (Pandya) gave me the freedom to bowl whatever I want to bowl. The atmosphere is very cold,” he said.
India chased down the target in 9.2 overs and won by seven wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. He said, ‘It is good to start the series with a win. It is very important for us as a team to start with a win. Very happy with it,” Pandya said after the match.
The second match will be played on Tuesday.
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