The Indian team kicked off their Ireland tour by taking on the side in the first of two T20Is. The two sides met at the Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast, on June 26th. The clash began with Ireland coming in to bat first, and thanks to a 50-run knock by Lorcan Tucker and Gareth Delany scoring 49, the hosts managed to post a total of 182 runs in the first innings.ย
While many expected team India to register a comfortable victory, Ireland stunned the Men in Blue and bundled them out for 148 and won the game by 34 runs, registering a historic win in Belfast. It is worth noting that the game was also the first game in charge of the side for Shreyas Iyer.ย
Losing his first T20I game as captain, Iyer joined the likes of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Rishabh Pant in the list of India captains who registered a loss in their first game in charge of the T20I side.ย
Chasing down a target of 183 runs, India opened its innings with Abhishek Sharma scoring 49 runs in 20 deliveries. However, none of the other batters amounted to much, with Shivam Dubeโs 25-run knock being the second-highest score for the visitors.ย
What did Shreyas Iyer say after the game?
After the loss, newly appointed India skipper Shreyas Iyer took centre stage and talked about how, despite a good start to the game, the bowlers failed to execute their plans in the middle phases, which let the match slip away from their grasp.ย
โI think initially, the bowlers were bowling well. They got lateral movement, and they got a couple of wickets as well. So we got a tremendous start, but in between, we lost execution. We made them hit straight down the ground, where we know that the dimensions are pretty small. But then, yeah, the bowlers, when we had to shut down the overs, they were brilliant as well,โ Shreyas Iyer said after the game.ย
Indian captains losing their maiden T20I in charge
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Rishabh Pant vs SA Delhi 2022
Shubman Gill vs Zim Harare 2024
Shreyas Iyer vs Ire Belfast 2026
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