Led by Deepak Hooda and Hardik Pandya, India beat Ireland by seven wickets in the first T20I in Dublin to gain an unassailable 1-0 lead in the short 2-match series. Umran Malik made his debut for India and became the 98th player to don the blue jersey in the shortest format.
The match started pretty late because of the rain and was shortened to 12 over per side.
Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field first. Batting first, Ireland lost three wickets quickly and were reeling at 22/3 in just four overs.
But after that, Henry Tector came in and started smacking the ball all around the park. The Indian bowlers had no answer for Tector's onslaught, as the Irishman smacked 64 runs in 33 deliveries at an astonishing strike rate of 193.9. Led by Tector's innings, Ireland finished with 108 on board after 12 overs.
Making his debut, Umran Malik just bowled one over and gave away 14 runs.
Chasing 109, Ishan Kishan blasted 26 runs off just 11 deliveries to give India a flying start. Hooda opened in place of Gaikwad. He, along with skipper Hardik Pandya stitched a match-winning partnership, before Pandya got out towards the end of the chase. Hooda top-scored for India with 47 off just 29 deliveries and finished the game with Dinesh Karthik.
The 2nd T20 will be played at the same venue on Tuesday, June 28.
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
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umran Malik
