Srinagar, Aug. 21: Jasprit Bumrah’s Indian cricket team trounced Ireland by 33 runs to win the three-match T20I series and take a 2-0 lead. India were pushed all the way by Ireland after winning the opening match by 2 runs on Friday using the DLS technique, but they managed to beat a strong home team in Dublin on Sunday.
Ireland captain Paul Stirling won the toss and bowled first. India started poorly after losing Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma in short succession, 34/2.
Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad held the ship for 71 runs before Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube led India to 185/5. Gaikwad hit 58, Rinku 38 in his first India innings, while skipper Bumrah, Ravi Bishnoi, and Prasidh Krishna held the Irish bats to 152/8.
Former Irish captain Andrew Balbirnie scared Indian fans with his 72 runs in 51 balls, including 5 boundaries and 4 maximums, but Arshdeep Singh handed India a key breakthrough and knocked them out.
Stirling’s men lost their skipper on a duck and Lorcan Tucker failed to open his account while chasing 186 runs to stay in the series. Prasidh Krishna stunned the Irish audience with two wickets.
Harry Tector and Curtis Campher left after failing to impress before George Dockrell joined Balbirnie. Miscommunication between the batters led to his departure.
Balbirnie became stronger until Arshdeep persuaded the ex-Ireland captain to give up a leading advantage and Sanju Samson took over. Mark Adair struck hard late in the tie to get his team near to the intimidating total.
Gaikwad scored a fifty and Sanju Samson added 40 runs to his career-best T20I total of 58. Rinku was named Player of the Match for his 38-run innings.
