Ireland stunned India to seal their first-ever victory against their opponents in any format, as captain Lorcan Tucker’s half-century led his side to a historic 34-run win in Stormont on Friday.
Prior to today, India have dominated Ireland, winning all eight of their previous matches, but Tucker’s side outclassed the visitors in the opening match of their two-game series, with the hosts bowling Shreyas Iyer’s side out for 148 in response to their 182-9.
Many had been expecting 15-year-old sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to make his debut in the match, but fans in Belfast were left disappointed after he was not selected in India’s starting XI.
With 50 off 36 balls that included two sixes, Tucker had starred with the bat as part of a crucial fifth-wicket partnership worth 64 alongside Gareth Delaney, who smashed 49 from 32 deliveries as the home side set India a target of 183 to win.
However, Ireland’s bowlers were dominant, with Matt Hollard and Matthew Humphreys both taking a trio of wickets as India struggled as they regularly lost wickets before finally being bowled out off the penultimate ball of the 19th over.
Hollard took impressive figures of 3-28 in dismissing India batters, Ishan Kishan, Iyer, and Washington Sundar.
Abhisek Sharma was the visitors’ highest scorer, hammering 49 runs off 20 deliveries before he was caught in the deep by Ben Calitz off a Liam McCarthy delivery to leave India on 80-4, with his side’s innings never recovering from this point.
Humphreys, who took figures of 3-38, wrapped up the match in style, dismissing Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh both in the penultimate over to wrap up the historic win.
More to follow…
