Ireland vs India, 1st T20I: Dhawan, Rohit Sharma star visitors beat hosts by 76 runs

Dublin: A dominant India beat Ireland by 76 runs in the first T20I here on Wednesday as they kicked off their England tour preparations in style.

It was India who dominated most of the match, despite losing wickets later on during their batting.

However, Shikhar Dhawan (74) and Rohit Sharma (97) were standout performers for the visitors.

In reply, James Shannon’s innings of 60 runs was the only positive for the hosts. They lost Pal Stirling early, but Andre Balbirnie and James Shannon built a 40-run stand after which the former was dismissed for 11.

Ireland had problems aplenty as neither captain Gary Wilson (5 runs) nor Kevin O’ Brien could live up to the expectations.  

In the end, it was the visitors who had it easy to complete a dominant victory.

Ireland 96-6 from 12.5 overs

WICKET! Things have turned from bad to worse, as captain Gary Wilson is stumped by Dhoni, giving Chahal the wicket.

Ireland 96-5 from 12.3 overs

WICKET! Nothing is going the hosts' way, as they lose anotrher wicket, with Kevin O' Brien falling for 10 runs.

Ireland 85-4 from 11.3 overs

WICKET! James Shannon is finally dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav as he departs for 60 runs.

Ireland 72-3 from 9.3 overs

WICKET! Virat Kohli takes a good catcxh at short cover to dismiss Simi Singh as Kuldeep Yadav gets a wicket.

Ireland 45-2 from 6.3 overs

WICKET! Andrew Balbirnie is stumped by Dhoni as he departs for 11, giving the wicket to Chahal.

Ireland 5-1 from 1.2 overs

WICKET! Not an ideal start for the hosts as Paul Stirling is dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah.

India innings

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were the stars of the Indian innings as the Men in Blue finished at 208-5 from 20 overs.

It was only in the 17^th over when Ireland found a breakthrough, with Kevin O’ Brian removing Shikhar Dhawan for 74.

Soon after, Ireland found another breakthrough as Suresh Raina was dismissed.

This was followed by the wickets of MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma (97) and Virat Kohli, all in the final stages of the innings.

However, in the end, it was an innings that belonged to the visitors, as they finished with a huge total.

India 160-1 from 16 overs

WICKET! Shikhar Dhawan has been dismissed for 74 by Kevin O' Brian as the visitors lose their first wicket.

India 112-0 from 12.1 overs

FIFTY! Rohit Sharma scores a half-century, as India continue to dominate the match. Will the hosts ever find a breakthrough?

India 100-0 in 10.1 overs

FIFTY! Shikhar Dhawan slams a fifty as India reach the 100-run mark. Meanwhile, Rohit, too, is inching towards his 50.

India 59-0 after 6 overs

WHAT A START! THe visitors are off to a strong start, and are definitely in the drivers seat now. Will the Irish bowlers strike back?

Toss update

Ireland have won the toss, and have elected to field in their first T20I against India here.

Here's India's playing XI for the match:

Preview

Virat Kohli-led Team India is all set to embark on a long tour to England, starting with the T20I series on July 3.

However, their preparations for the full-fledged tour have already begun, and are all set to lock horns with Ireland in the first of  two-T20I series.

Kohli will be playing his first match for India since the country’s second T20I against South Africa in February earlier this year, a match which India lost. However, the Men in Blue went onto win the third match without Kohli, thereby winning the series 2-1.

This will be only the second meeting between these two sides in the shortest format of the game.

Their last encounter in T20Is came when India defeated Ireland by 15 runs during the 2009 ICC World T20 in England.

All eyes will be on the pace attack of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Siddarth Kaul and Umesh Yadav, as it will be a testing time for the pacers.

This will also be a platform for the wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuvzendra Chahal, who shared about 30 wickets between them during India’s tour of South Africa.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma will look to put up a better performance after having aggregated just 286 runs from 14 Indian Premier League (IPL) matches for Mumbai Indians (MI) this season.

The visitors will have a shot in the top spot in terms of ICC T20I rankings, if they win all their matches against Ireland and England.

 

Squads:

Ireland: Gary Wilson(captain), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, , Andy McBrine, Kevin O Brien, William Porterfield, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, James Shannon, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Joshua Little.

India: Virat Kohli(captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina,  Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav                   

 

When is the match?

The match is scheduled to start at 8.30 PM IST on 27^th June, Wednesday.

Where is the match?

The match will take place at the Malahide Cricket Club Ground in Dublin.

 Live telecast and timings:

Live streaming:

The matches will be telecast on Sony SIX and Sony Six HD. For live streaming, one can log onto SonyLiv.com.