India’s premier spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and new opener Deepak Hooda were top performers in a rain-hit match where visitors registered a 7-wicket win over Ireland in the first T20I of the two-match series at The Village in Dublin on Sunday. Of. It was a side game of 12 overs. Chahal bowled three overs for only 13 runs and took a wicket of Lorcan Tucker, while Hooda, who was promoted up the order, scored 47 runs in 29 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes.
Yuzvendra Chahal is our top performer from the first innings to his bowling figures of 1/11 in 3 overs.
Check out his bowling summary here #teamindia #IREvIND @yuzi_chahal pic.twitter.com/0GClAtwb7b— BCCI (@BCCI) 26 June 2022
India were chasing a challenging target of 109 runs in 12 overs. Hardik Pandya’s team made a strong start with Ishan Kishan scoring 26 runs in 11 balls with the help of two sixes and three fours. Ireland came back with two wickets in two balls. Kishan and his Mumbai Indians teammate, Suryakumar Yadav were dropped on consecutive deliveries. Ireland pacer Craig Young took two quick wickets but the partnership between skipper Hardik Pandya and Hooda sealed the game for the visitors. Pandya was removed in the 8th over but the game was within India’s reach.
Earlier in the first innings, Harry Tector had scored 64 runs in 33 balls with the help of three sixes and six fours. He batted at a strike rate of 193. Wicket-keeper batsman Lorcan Tucker scored 18 runs in 16 balls with the help of two sixes to finalize Ireland’s innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Avesh Khan and Yuzvendra Chahal took a wicket each for India, while Axar Patel and Umran Malik took no wickets. Chahal and Kumar bowled three overs each while Pandya and Avesh bowled two overs each. Just one over was given to Akshar and debutant Malik.
After heavy rain, the stipulated 20 overs were reduced to 12 per side with revised conditions. The powerplay was one to four overs, with only three bowlers who could bowl two overs and two bowlers who could bowl three overs. For the hosts, Harry Tector acted with the bat as he scored 64 off 33 balls while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya and Avesh Khan took a wicket each for the visitors.
After winning the toss, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got the wicket of Irish captain Andy Balbirnie in the very first over. It was a good length delivery that pitched outside the off-stump as the ball came in on its way inside and pulled Andy Balbirnie’s drive off the stumps. Indian captain Hardik Pandya dismissed Paul Stirling in the second over of the innings. After going to the boundary, Pandya bounces back with the wicket of Sterling. Irish batsman Sterling once again tried to go over the infield, but he hid it towards mid-off and was caught by Deepak Hooda.
After a clean over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan joined the wicket-taking party in the fourth over. Avesh overtakes Gareth Delany as the Irishman gives an inside edge to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik while trying to drive the ball. At the end of the powerplay, Ireland’s score read 22/3. Harry Tector hit two fours in the 5th over of Axar Patel. In the very next over, Tector hit the first six of Umran Malik’s innings for India.
Veteran spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, doing his first over, conceded only four runs in the seventh over of the innings. Lorcan Tucker then took matters into his own hands as he dismissed the India captain for back-to-back maximums in the 8th over. In the 9th over, Yuzvendra Chahal sent the dangerous looking Lorcan Tucker back to the pavilion. Tucker went across the stumps and sweeps the ball, which didn’t have enough distance as the catch was taken by Axar Patel at deep mid-wicket.
The fall of wickets had no effect on Harry Tector’s pace as the Irish batsman took India vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar downtown for a maximum and a boundary in the 10th over of the innings. Chahal again bowled a disciplined over as he conceded only four runs in the last over of the innings. Tector completed his half-century in the last over and in the same over hit a boundary off Avesh Khan.