The beauty of any sport is the factor of uncertainty and the involvement of luck in it. When India posted a total of 225 at the end of 20 overs, not many fans or experts had given the Irish side any kind of chance, but what unfolded later will be remembered as one of the examples of great efforts made in the sport.
Riding high on the win of the first T20I, India came out all guns blazing for the second T20I. Sanju Samson opened the batting with Ishan Kishan and went on to score his maiden 50 in the Indian blues.
Mumbai Indians veteran Ishan Kishan could not make any notable contributions and was dismissed cheaply by Mark Adair when he was batting on 3. Hero of the previous match Deepak Hooda continued from where he left and scored a blistering ton off 55 deliveries.
Samson and Hooda's partnership propelled India to a total of 225 runs. In their quest to score more runs, the Indian batting crumbled under pressure and they lost 4 wickets for 18 runs in the death overs.
Once the Irish batsmen came out to bat, they did not waste any time. Paul Stirling joined hands with skipper Andrew Balbirnie and put up a partnership of 72 runs which acted as a strong base for Ireland's chase to take off. Skipper Balbirnie took the onus upon himself and he kept on holding one end. The Irish skipper scored 60 off 37 balls at a strike rate of 162.16.
After Stirling and Balbirnie's wicket fell, the Irish chase was taken care of by a few quick cameos played by Harry Tector and George Dockrell. In the final over the Irish needed 17 overs but it was well defended by Umran Malik who was just playing his second game.
Ireland displayed loads of intent and courage to try and chase down this mammoth of a target, which they almost did, but in the end, they fell short of what was nearly a remarkable chase.
India clinch the series 2-0
Ireland (Playing XI): Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie(c), Gareth Delany, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w), George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Craig Young, Joshua Little, Conor Olphert
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Umran Malik
