Deepak Hooda scored a blistering century and then Umran Malik held his nerve in the final over as India defeated Ireland by four runs in a thrilling encounter in the second Twenty20 International at Malahide, Dublin.
With the win, Hardik Pandya-led India clinched the series 2-0.
Winning the toss and opting to bat, India posted a colossal 225 for seven thanks to Deepak Hooda’s first T20I century and Sanju Samson’s 42-ball 77. Samson, who opened the innings for India combined with Hooda to stitch a 176-run partnership – the highest ever T20I stand for India – to dominate the hosts. Hooda registered his century in 55 deliveries, becoming the fourth Indian man and the fifth overall to so in T20Is. Samson, playing his first match in the series, brought up his highest T20I score in the innings.
Hooda on fire: Reactions to Indian batter’s superb century against Ireland in second T20I
After Samson’s dismissal in the 17th over, the innings did not have the same vigour as Joshua Little and Craig Young gave Ireland some brief hope. Although Suryakumar Yadav (15), Hooda, Dinesh Karthik (0), Axar Patel (0) and Harshal Patel (0) were dismissed in quick succession, India managed to post the second highest total at the venue.
But right away, when the second innings began, it had the making of a good contest. Ireland approached the chase with the right intent as Paul Stirling (40) and skipper Andrew Balbirnie (60) were off to a flier in the power play. However, with Stirling dismissed by Ravi Bishnoi (1/41) in the 6th over, and Gareth Delany dismissed for a duck in the following over, Balbirnie was left to do the heavy lifting.
Harry Tector, who played an impressive knock in the first T20I, then took on that responsibility after Balbirnie was dismissed by Harshal Patel. But his stay at the crease too was brought to an end for 39 runs.
Eventually, it was a resilient partnership between George Dockrell (34*) and Mark Adair (23*) that brought Ireland to touching distance Malik (1/41) held his nerve to defend 17 runs in the final over.
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