The India vs Ireland match was in the fray in the eighth game of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 on Wednesday, June 5. The match between Rohit Sharma-led team and Paul Stirling-led team was organized by Nassau County International Cricket. Stadium in New York.
India won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bowl first. The bowlers showed their class and the help from the surface meant Ireland had a nightmare outing. They simply couldn’t get going and Ireland were bowled out for just 96 runs in 16 overs.
With a small total on board and the field unchanged in the second innings, the Irish players had a big responsibility to give their team a good start. Mark Adair did a good job of picking an early wicket by dismissing the in-form Virat Kohli for 1.
However, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant showed a batting masterclass and stabilized the innings with a staggering 54-run partnership between them. Rohit Sharma retired injured after scoring 52, but Pant did not stay out till the end and ensured that India handed Ireland an 8-wicket defeat.
At the post-match presentation ceremony, Irish captain Paul Stirling blamed the draw for his team’s defeat in the senior match against the Indian national cricket team.
According to Paul Stirling, the Irish batsmen should have tried to put pressure on the Indian bowlers, but they failed to do so. He signed off on an optimistic note and said that they will look to bounce back strongly when they return to the same venue for the match against Canada.
“Toss played a crucial role – he stuck to the bat in overcast conditions. We needed to put some pressure on the Indian bowlers again. They really didn’t miss that often. Their bunching and lengths were exceptional.”
“Any time in between is crucial for us. We’ll be back here for a couple of days. We’ll give it a good chance against Canada.”
The defeat in the 2024 T20 World Cup clash against India was Ireland’s eighth in as many T20Is against the Men in Blue, which is a record. Also, India recorded their fourth-highest win in terms of balls remaining in T20Is against Ireland.
India wins with more balls to spare in T20Is
81 vs Sco Dubai 2021
64 against Ban Hangzhou 2023
59 vs UAE Mirpur 2016
46 vs Ire New York 2024*
41 vs Zim Harare 2016
India’s most consecutive wins against an opponent (T20I)
8 against Bangladesh (2009-18)
8 against Ireland (2009-24)*
7 against Australia (2013-17)
7 against Sri Lanka (2016-17)
7 vs West Indies (2018-19)
What happened when India and Ireland faced each other last time?
It was on India’s tour of Ireland 2023 when the two teams last saw each other in action. In the first match of the three-match T20I series, Jasprit Bumrah returned to international cricket after a long injury layoff and recorded astonishing figures of 2/24 to bag the Man of the Match award. First, India restricted Ireland to 139/7 and then won the match by 2 runs as per DLS method because rain interrupted play.
In the second T20I, the Men in Blue again produced a strong performance and defeated the Irish team by 33 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead. Batting first, India posted a grand total of 185/5 on the board with Ruturaj Gaikwad (58) being the top scorer. Sanju Samson (40), Rinku Singh (38) and Shivam Dube (22) also made good contributions.
With the ball, India came close to perfection as they ran through the Irish batting order and restricted them to 152/8 with Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna and Jasprit Bumrah taking two wickets each, while Arshdeep Singh bagged one wicket. Meanwhile, the third T20I between the teams was washed out without a single ball being bowled.
