Ireland have entered the history books as they registered a 2-0 sweep over India in the two-match T20I series, ending their long unbeaten run with another famous win at the Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast. Ireland have handed the two-time reigning T20 World champions India their first-ever T20I series defeat in three years.
This marks a horror start to Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy era as he fails to inspire the team to a single win in Ireland. The Men in Blue were handed a target of 155, and all they could do was to muster 153ย in the second innings as they lost by one run in the end.
Harshit’s cameo goes in vain
The loss margin could have been way bigger had it not been for Harshit Rana with his cameo as he fought to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. Most of the Indian batters failed to fire as Harshit put up a valiant 21 from 10 balls to eke out a win. But he fell on the second-last ball of the innings when he tried tonking another one over long on when India needed eight from the final two balls. However, he was caught short byย Tim Tector as Ireland hit the final nail in the coffin. Prince Yadav, on his debut, hit a six on a low full toss off Harry Tector to mitigate the margin to one run.
Historical days for Ireland; India’s drawn blank for first time in seven years
Ireland came into this series having never defeated India in an International match. They registered their maiden win in the previous T20I and have a proper watershed moment as they registered a historic series sweep, something which is not very common for India.ย
The Men in Blue have suffered a series sweep for the first time in the last seven years. India’s last such blank came when they lost to Australia 2-0 in a T20I series in 2019. The Men in Blue last lost a T20I series in 2023, and that was a 3-2 loss to the West Indies away from home in 2023. Since then, India were undefeated in the last 16 T20I series or tournaments, a historic run that included two T20 World Cups. But it all came to a halt in Belfast.
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