Indian batters and bowlers came up with impressive performances to give their team a 33-run win in the second T20I and a 2-0 lead in the three-match series over Ireland on Sunday. Once India made 185 for 5 after being asked to bat first, Ireland felt the heat while chasing and they were restricted to 152 for 8 despite a 51-ball-72 by Andrew Balbirnie. India had earlier won the rain marred first T20I by two runs under the DLS method.
Fine hands by Gaikwad (58), Sanju Samson (40) and Rinku Singh (38) moulded India’s charge with the bat. But on a true pitch, Indian bowlers had to back their batsmen and they produced a superb collective spell under captain Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Ravi Bishnoi, who grabbed six wickets between them.
Prasidh continued his impressive return to top of the shelf cricket as the pacer packed off Irish captain Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker in his first over to reduce the hosts to 19 for 2.
Leg-spinner Bishnoi castled Harry Tector with a googly, restricting Ireland to 31 for 3 in the Powerplay segment. Ireland’s progress was made all the more difficult by the ever-climbing asking rate that often hovered around 12 and above. But they fought bravely and Balbirnie was at the front of that mini fightback, making a strident 50 (71), before perishing to Arshdeep Singh.
His dismissal ended Ireland’s faint hopes for a win and Mark Adair’s 15-ball 23 providing a mere artificial excitement. However, before the bowlers took over, India ruled the field through their batsmen. They started the innings briskly through opener Yashasvi Jaiswal who made an 18 off 11 balls with a couple of fours and a six. But the innings failed to build on the promise as Jaiswal’s attempt to pull Craig Young ended in the hands of Curtis Campher at deep.
Tilak Varma failed to make an impression in the second straight game, this time a mistimed pull off Barry McCarthy was snaffled by George Dockrell close to the ropes.
At 35 for 2, India needed some solidity and momentum. The visitors gained that through Samson and Gaikwad for the third wicket. They milked 71 runs between them to carry India past the 100-run mark in the 12th over.
At 105 for 3 in the 13th over, India had a good launchpad to get to a sizable total.
Rinku and Shivam Dube showed their power-hitting prowess with the penultimate over fetching 22 runs and final over producing 20 runs.
