Axar Patel, on Wednesday (June 5), made a brilliant catch off his own bowling to send back Barry McCarthy in the ongoing match between India and Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
India were already in the driving seat when Axar Patel came to bowl his first over and the 12th of the innings. Ireland were reeling at 49 for 7 and Axar Patel soon reduced them to 50 for 8 by scoring with his second delivery of the game.
The spinner bowled one on the pads and McCarthy wanted to play the shot on the leg side. While the right-handed batsman managed to make contact with the ball, he was unable to keep his shot on the ground as he hit it towards Axar Patel’s right.
McCarthy still looked confident as the ball was well away from Axar Patel. However, the Indian star, known for his fielding, made a brilliant effort to complete the catch.
Check out Axar Patel’s screenshot:
Talking about the game, India were 29 for 1 in the fourth at the time of writing this report. The Men in Blue chase 97 runs to begin their T20 World Cup campaign with a win.
Earlier in the game, Rohit Sharma’s decision to bowl first was completely justified by his bowlers as India defeated Ireland by a paltry total of 96 runs. India were at the forefront from the beginning and made sure to keep Ireland under pressure at all times.
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh impressed again with the new ball and dismissed both of Ireland’s openers in the third over to give the team a bright start. From that position, Ireland continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and failed to reach the 100-run mark.
At one point, they were reeling at 50 for 8 before a 26-run knock from Gareth Delany gave some respectability to the score. Barring Delany, no other Irish player could even touch the 20-run mark, while seven of them could not even reach the double-digit mark. For India, Hardik Pandya impressed with the ball, taking 3 for 27, while Arshdeep and Jasprit Bumrah claimed two wickets each.