India eyes clean sweep ahead of series finale against Ireland

With the first game of the series won comprehensively, India now sits at the cusp of a clean sweep of the Irish that can act as a massive impetus for the visitors before they square off with high-flying England. Despite the contrasting nature of the two teams’ strengths on paper, anything can happen on a given day in the shortest format of the game, and the Irishmen displayed enough, especially with the bat, to show that they are no pushovers.

The Indian bowlers had a decent start to their previous game but somehow lost the plot midway with Yuzvendra Chahal pumping out a match-defining spell that would eventually earn him the man-of-the-match award. The batters were rampant since the very beginning of the innings with Deepak Hooda taking point in ushering India home comfortably. Hardik Pandya played out another blitzkrieg as the Irish bowlers copped a belting.

Hooda will most likely continue to open alongside an in-form Ishan Kishan while the charge of taking care of the middle order would be on the shoulders of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Dinesh Karthik. Two of the senior pros seem to be in fine touch as Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been a significant vanguard of their fast-bowling unit while Chahal would be hoping to continue his momentum.

Ireland would be hopeful of a sturdy start from Paul Stirling, the most experienced campaigner of their side while a lot would rely on Harry Tector and Loran Tucker to keep the side afloat.

Match details:

Ireland vs India (2st T20I)

The Village, Malahide

28th June 2022

9:00 PM

Head-to-head:

Total matches: 4

India: 4

Ireland: 0

Squads:

India:

Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishan Kishan, Harshal Patel, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi.

Ireland:

Andrew Balbirnie, Harry Tector, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Paul Stirling, Curtis Campher, Stephen Doheny, Lorcan Tucker, Mark Adair, Conor Olphert, Joshua Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Craig Young.