Ireland vs India 1st T20I: Deepak Hooda helps India cruise to a 7-wicket win

With rain playing spoilsport early on, the game was reduced to 12 overs per side. Umran Malik made his debut for team Indian, whereas Conor Olphert did for Ireland. 

India, on winning the toss, opted to bowl first. The bowlers started their innings brilliantly. Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed skipper Andy Balbirnie as the ball hit the top off stump to depart him for a duck. The second and third over saw dismissals of Paul Stirling (4) and Gareth Delany (8). As the team looked lingering at 22-3, Harry Tector played a mesmerising knock to smash an unbeaten 64 off 33. A cameo from Locran Tucker fetching 18 off 16 further helped Ireland pull off a total of 108/4 on the scoreboard.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal were the most economical bowlers with an economy of 5.33 and 3.66, respectively, alongside scalping a wicket each. Hardik Pandya and Avesh, too, took a wicket but were quite expensive.

In response, Deepak Hooda and Ishan Kishan opened for India. Ishan Kishan began the chase game in his style, smashing Josh Little all over the ground in the first. He looked in ominous touch to score 26 off 11 before Craig Young took him and Suryakumar Yadav on consecutive balls. The bowler bowled fuller lengths as compared to other bowlers. Deepak Hooda struggled initially, found his form, and lashed on the bowler Andy McBrine to gather 21 runs from his over. While Hardik Pandya added 12-ball 24, Deepak Hooda remained unbeaten at 47 off 29 to seal the win with Dinesh Karthik on the other side.  

So India started the tour on a winning note, and Yuzvendra Chahal was awarded Player of the Match for his spell of 3-0-11-1. The game would have been more interesting had it been a full 20-over play. 

On winning the match, Hardik Pandya said, "Great to start a series with a win. For us, as a team, it's very important to start with a win. Quite happy with it. He's [Umran Malik] been fantastic for his franchise. But I felt, also had a chat with him, he'll be more comfortable with the older ball. Ireland batted fantastically, had to go back to our main bowlers. Maybe next game he'll have a full chance. Some of the shots he [Tector] played were mindblowing."

The teams will clash next on 28th June 2022 in Dublin.