Moondra, Hollard do it again as Ireland script epic series sweep

On a rollercoaster cricketing day marked by a World Cup blockbuster and a shock retirement, Ireland wrote themselves into eternal folklore with a historic 2-0 series sweep over reigning world champions India in Belfast. Backing up their first ever win over India in internationals on Friday, they scripted an epic 1-run win in the second T20I on Sunday (June 28), spearheaded by three-fers from the pace duo of Jai Moondra and Matthew Hollard.

Asked to bat first, Ireland started positively as Ross Adair slammed two sixes off Arshdeep Singh in the opening over, not letting a few swings and misses bog him down. There was some extra bounce on offer for the seamers and they used it well. Tim Tector fell in tame fashion before Arshdeep removed Adair, right after Harshit Rana made a mess of a steepler as he pedaled back from short third man. The pacers continued to keep things tight and Ireland finished the Powerplay on 44/2, before slowing down further once the field spread out.

Debutant Prince Yadav, who began with a tidy over in the Powerplay, had his first wicket in the form of Lorcan Tucker. The Irish skipper was undone by the extra bounce while attempting to heave the ball across the line, edging behind to Ishan Kishan, who took the gloves ahead of Sanju Samson. At the halfway point, Ireland were struggling at 58/3 before Benjamin Calitz stepped on the gas, tearing into debutant Suryansh Shedge. He smashed a four and a six before Shedge overstepped and saw Tector loft the free hit towards long off, where Arshdeep palmed the ball over the ropes as the over went for 22.

Tector, who was on 16 off 22 at one point, also flicked a switch although Calitz was the chief aggressor in the 65-run stand as he found the fence regularly. Shivam Dube then landed a double-whammy, forcing Calitz to arrow a wide one to sweeper cover before cleaning up Gareth Delany with a nip-backer to find himself on a hat-trick. Shreyas Iyer handed him an extra over, although it went for 13 runs.

There was a very brief rain interval, following which George Dockrell resumed with a six. He fell to Arshdeep in the penultimate over though before Tector got to his half-century, but Prince closed things out with a magnificent final over, nailing his yorkers before picking up two wickets - one with a short ball and another with the slower one, finishing with 3/22 in his first T20I outing.

India's chase began in disastrous fashion as Jai Moondra removed Sanju Samson off his first delivery again, trapping him LBW. In the same over, Abhishek Sharma also perished for a golden duck thanks to an incredible catch from Matthew Hollard, who turned around and covered plenty of ground from short third before falling flat on his back as he clung on. It got worse when Shreyas chopped on to hand Moondra his third. While Tilak Varma began confidently, a horrible miscommunication with Ishan Kishan saw the latter run out with Tilak turning down the run, leaving India in disarray at 35/4.

Axar Patel and Tilak began the rebuilding process before a heavier spell of rain saw play interrupted for a longer time period. There was no need for a revision in target though upon resumption, but the only boundary in that partnership was off a leg bye. Both batters rotated strike but were stuck against spin again in a 40-ball 39-run stand, which came to an end when Axar steered one to the 'keeper. The boundary-drought ended in the 13th over thanks to Tim Tector making a hash of a straightforward stop in the 13th over. The asking rate shot up to 10 and India got 19 runs off the next couple of overs as Tilak broke free with a four and Dube swung one down the ground. But with Liam McCarthy sending down a five-run over, the pressure told as Dube heaved a short ball from Matthew Humphreys to deep square leg.

Humphreys' two-run 16th over - one where he largely darted the ball in - decisively swung the game Ireland's way. Tilak's wicket, shortly after he struck the first six of the innings to bring up his fifty, seemed to be the final nail in the coffin but Ireland nearly paid for a dropped chance to give Rana a lifeline. Shedge couldn't contribute much but with 32 needed off 10 deliveries, Rana made things interesting by striking a six and a four.

Curiously, Arshdeep retained strike off the last ball of the 19th over, leaving India with 21 to get off the last. Harry Tector was tasked with closing it out and what followed was a chaotic set which included two wides, a full toss above the waist and a boundary off the inside edge on the free hit. It boiled down to 8 to win off two deliveries when Rana swung a full toss to long on, before Prince pumped the last ball down the ground for a maximum as India fell agonisingly short. The result ended an unbeaten streak of 16 series/tournaments in the format, having last lost a series to West Indies in 2023.

Brief Scores: Ireland 154/8 in 20 overs (Harry Tector 53, Benjamin Calitz 37; Prince Yadav 3-22, Shivam Dube 2-25) beat India 152/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 55; Matthew Hollard 3-26, Jai Moondra 3-32) by 1 run.