IRE VS IND - 2nd T20I, India tour of Ireland, 2018

Ireland vs India

India won by 143 runs

IRE -70/10 (12.3)

IND -213/4 (19.6)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH : KL Rahul

Batter

R
B
4s
6s
SR
0
1
0
0
0

Bowler

O
M
R
W
ECO
2.3
0
16
3
6.4

19:26 Local Time, 23:56 IST: Quite an entertaining (not to mention, brief) series for a mismatch, wasn't it? Hardik hitting 5 out of the 10 balls he's faced in the series for six. Rahul and his pleasant initiation to the UK. The trickery and deceit of the wrist spinners. Unfortunately, not too many positives for Ireland, who need a T20 revamp to be honest. Alright then, that's curtains for India's warm-up for the limited-overs leg in England. It's Rishi Roy signing off, along with Vineet Anantharaman, Akshay Maanay, Hariprasad Sadanandan, Abhinand Raghavendran and Mukesh Gowda. Go back to your humdrum lives now. Bye bye!

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Virat Kohli, India captain: Just the kind of momentum we wanted for England. A balanced performance from all departments in both the games. I'm having a headache now about whom to pick, they've all done so well with the bat, but it's a good problem to have. It's a great phase for Indian cricket, and I'm happy the youngsters are doing well and taking their chances with both hands. Our bench-strength has shown as well, with the guys shining through. For us the opposition doesn't matter, and England will be the same. We focus on our strength. The pitches are going to be good, so if they can come hard, we have the batting power to match that. We have two wrist spinners, so that is an advantage for us. If we are at our highest level of intensity, it will be a competitive series which we are looking forward to. England are a quality side but we have the firepower to match them. The benchmark has been set. All the guys in the team are working equally hard. We have a lot of mutual respect, no one takes their place for granted, and the responsibility by the players has been taken with both hands. I don't have to poke anyone at any stage to put their best performance in. Everyone wants game time and that is a very healthy sign for any team. The credit has to go to the players for taking the responsibility and that takes all the pressure off me and the team management.

Gary Wilson, Ireland captain: Disappointed with not putting up a fight with the bat. We were in a better place with the ball than last game. We know India are good at chasing, and the wicket wouldn't have played differently whether we had batted first or bowled first. I thought the grass might hold it a little bit today, and it didn't spin as much as the other day. Plenty of lessons, looking at the way they go about their game. They're some of the best players in the IPL so we can hopefully go talk to the coaches and come back stronger.

Yuzvendra Chahal, Man of the Series: The wicket was turning. The coaches told me that you must plan according to the wicket. I was mixing the pace up according to the batsman's thinking, so I bowled four quick ones, and then tossed up the last one (Balbirnie's wicket). Sometimes the nets are useful because they are some of the best in the world. If you bowl well to them, you get more confidence if they can't hit you and you can use it as your ball in the match.

KL Rahul, Man of the Match: It was important for me to make the most of my opportunities that I get. It was a good wicket and I enjoyed batting on it. I came into the series with a good run in the IPL, so I just continued and enjoyed myself in the middle. It was a little spongy, and the back of a length balls were holding up. So I was staying back in the crease to get used to it and getting into good positions and striking the ball well. Getting time off gets me more determined to come back and make runs. It is important to use the time out to work on your cricket and technique. Whenever I am sitting out I try to work on coming back stronger. The kind of team we have, it is hard to stay in the side and take your place for granted. I've never played in the UK before, and we know it will be challenging. That's what this young team has been doing for the last few years, and we will be up to the challenge. This series will also test our skills and character, so we are looking forward to that.

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Lowest all out T20I totals vs India:
70 Ire, Malahide, 2018*
80 Eng, Colombo RPS, 2012
82 SL, Vizag, 2016
83 Pak, Mirpur, 2016
86 Aus, Mirpur, 2014
87 SL, Cuttack, 2017

Lowest T20I totals for Ireland:
68 v WI, Providence, 2010
70 v Ind, Malahide, 2018*
71 v Afg, Dubai, 2017
105 v PNG, Townsville, 2016

Harsha Bhogle: Sadly, Ireland not in the game at all......

Biggest T20I wins by runs for India:
143 vs Ire, Dublin, 2018*
93 vs SL, Cuttack, 2017
90 vs Eng, Colombo RPS, 2012
88 vs SL, Indore, 2017
76 vs Ire, Dublin, 2018

Biggest win in T20Is (by runs):
172 SL v Ken, Joburg, 2007
143 Pak v WI, Karachi, 2018
143 Ind v Ire, Malahide, 2018*
130 SA v Sco, Oval, 2009

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18:53 Local Time, 23:23 IST: A drubbing? A thrashing? A pasting? None of these words can encapsulate India's dominance over the Irish in this brief series in Dublin. The elephant in the room: the Irish need to work on playing spin. They were troubled by spinners in the series against Afghanistan way back in December 2017, and they continue to be discombobulated by Kuldeep and Chahal, who shared 13 wickets over the last two matches. The 17th ranked side in the world were shown their place by the Indians in Dublin. Despite their Test status, Ireland are mighty short on T20 reserves. No wrist-spinners, no express-pace bowlers, and clearly no death bowlers - given that they were forced to down Kevin O'Brien in the last over today. They'll need to make some tough decisions if they are to compete in the format. As for the Indians, their bench-strength has been as effective as their first-choice XI, and they can take a lot of confidence out of this competition. Interviews coming right up.

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12.3

W

Kuldeep Yadav to Rankin, out Stumped! Yikes! India steamroll Ireland 2-0. 13 out of 20 wickets in these 2 games by spinners is a statement. The wrong'un by Kuldeep, Rankin charges him and has a wild heave, trying to hit through the line, and is beaten as Karthik collects it on the on-side and breaks the stumps - heck, he could've broken them a few times, that's how far Rankin was down the wicket. And that's that for the series. Done and dusted. Rankin st Karthik b Kuldeep Yadav 10(8) [6s-1]

Kuldeep Yadav to Rankin, THATS OUT!! Stumped!!

12.2

Kuldeep Yadav to Rankin, 2 runs, a tad short, turning away from the left-hander, slapped away towards deep extra cover for a brace

12.1

Kuldeep Yadav to Rankin, no run, skidder, stays low, tucked into the on-side

Seventh 3+ wicket haul for Chahal in T20Is - most for India ahead of the next placed R Ashwin's five.

END OF OVER 12

3 Runs

IRE: 68 - 9

0 1 0 Wd 1 W 0

Boyd Rankin

8 (5)

Peter Chase

0 (1)

Chahal

4-0-21-3

11.6

Chahal to Chase, no run, leg-break, beats the defence of Chase