India secure thrilling win after rain gods play spoilsport in the curtain-raiser of the T20I series against Ireland

After a dramatic turn of events, India managed to escape by the skin of their teeth as they secured a two-run victory over Ireland in the series opener as the rain gods decided to come out and play. It was a thrilling battle that saw India take the early edge only to lose out on steam later in the game.

Winning the toss in his very first T20I as a skipper, Jasprit Bumrah opted to bowl against Ireland. India handed over a couple of debuts for their curtain-raiser with Rinku Singh and Prasidh Krishna entering the Indian team while Ireland arrived to the fray with an experienced side.

Much to the joys of the Indian cricket fans, Jasprit Bumrah struck on his second ball as he claimed the scalp of Andrew Balbirnie with an absolute peach, clattering his timbre, a spectacle that rekindled memories of a prime Bumrah. Three balls later, he produced a second wicket where he forced an edge from Lorcan Tucker’s blade, with Sanju Samson pouching a sitter.

A desperate attempt from Harry Tector and Paul Stirling to produce a stand of resistance fizzled away in thin air as Prasidh Krishna claimed the former while Ravi Bishnoi cleaned up the timbre of the Irish skipper. Krishna struck again and this time it was the big wicket of George Dockrell who returned to the pavilion for just a solitary run.

Mark Adair and Curtis Campher started the rebuilding for the hosts and despite being uncomfortable for a while, they did make peace with the infractions of the Indian bowlers and managed to stitch together a crucial partnership of 28 runs before Adair was claimed by Bishnoi.

Despite the departure of Adair, Ireland managed to keep things afloat as an incoming Barry McCarthy hammered a crucial half-century under the pump, allowing Ireland to post a fighting 139/7. For India, the trio of Bumrah, Krishna and Bishnoi plundered six wickets between them while Arshdeep Singh returned for his second spell to bag the important scalp of Campher.

As India walked out to bat, they did get off to a good start and that is exactly what helped the Men in Blue to get ahead of the DLS score just in the nick of time. Jaiswal seemed in good touch while Ruturaj Gaikwad was also motoring along in pretty decent manner until Criag Young dealt a double whammy in two consecutive balls, packing Jaiswal and Tilak Varma back to the pavilion.

With the sudden fall of two wickets, India found themselves in a swamp of uncertainty as the heavens cracked open. However, when the DLS par score came up on board, it read that India was in safe hands and eventually with the rest of the game being washed away, it was announced that Bumrah and company had successfully secured a win by two runs, a stat that India would like to work upon.

An incoming Jasprit Bumrah was awarded the Player of the Match for his figures of 2/24 while India would be happy to get off to a feisty start under their new skipper, with the certainty that India’s star pacer seems to be in good touch, particularly with the World Cup coming.