Hardik Pandya’s captaincy was off to a good start as India defeated Ireland by 7 wickets in a rain curtailed 12-over-a-side match in the first Twenty20 International in Dublin on Sunday.
Chasing 109 in 12 overs, Ishan Kishan provided India a fiery start as he scored 15 runs off Joshua Little (1/39) in the first over. Wickets on consecutive deliveries by Craig Young (2/18) gave Ireland brief hope as Kishan and Suryakumar were dismissed.
However, captain Hardik Pandya (24) and opener Deepak Hooda (47*) stitched a 64-run partnership before Hooda and Dinesh Karthik (5*) finished the job for India in 9.2 overs.
Earlier in the match, having won the toss and opting to bowl, India’s seam bowlers put Ireland into all sorts of early trouble in power play as the hosts were reduced to 22/3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/16), Pandya (1/26) and Avesh Khan (1/27) were all in the wickets column as they capitalised on the movement in the initial overs.
However, Harry Tector who came into bat at 4, scored an unbeaten 64 off 33 to give his side something to bowl at. Although he played out Yuzvendra Chahal (1/11), he went after Axar Patel (0/12), debutant Umran Malik (0/14) in their solitary overs and provided his side a strong finish.
But Hardik and Co made light work of the run-chase to win with 16 balls to spare.
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