The Shreyas Iyer-captaincy era got off to the worst start possible as India lost the opening T20I against Ireland by 34 runs in Belfast on Friday. The Men in Blue were unable to chase the target of 183, and the batters left a lot to be desired. Only Abhishek Sharma left a mark with the bat, scoring a 19-ball half-century. However, the others failed to make an impact, resulting in the reigning T20 World Cup champions suffering a shock defeat.
After the loss against Ireland, Shreyas refused to hide behind excuses and lambasted the horrible show from his team in the first T20I of the two-match series against the hosts.
Shreyas himself disappointed with the bat, lasting just seven balls in the middle and scoring three runs. The visitors, who left out Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the series opener, managed to score just 148, losing the game by 34 runs. After the loss, Shreyas said that no one should take anything for granted, and a win will only come if the basics are done again and again.
“You can’t take anything for granted. You can’t just turn up and win matches. You have to work hard and see to it that you’re in that moment when I mentioned earlier that you’ve got to stay in the present and see to it that if you’ve got that opportunity to squeeze the opponent, we’ve got to do that,” Shreyas said at the post-match presentation.
“Never take any moment or situation lightly,” he added.
However, the Indian captain also said it was a “great start for him as the captain”, and that he will learn from this experience.
“Initially the bowlers were bowling venom. They got lethal, 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, there were a few other bowlers when we had to shut down the over, they were brilliant as well,” said Shreyas.
“So I thought 140 would have been an amazing score considering the start that we got to chase. But nonetheless, it’s a great experience over here. We got to play on these conditions, got a fair idea about the wicket and yeah, great start as a captain,” he added.
What happened in the game?
The first T20I between India and Ireland saw Shreyas winning the toss and opting to bowl. The hosts then posted 182/9 in the allotted twenty overs after skipper Lorcan Tucker returned with a half-century. Gareth Delany also played a useful knock of 49 runs as Ireland posted more than 180 runs on the board. Harshit Rana was the pick of the bowlers for India as he returned with figures of 3/24 in his quota of four overs.
India then got off to a bad start in the chase as Sanju Samson lost his wicket in the second over. However, Abhishek kept India in the game and struck a 19-ball fifty. However, his dismissal brought Ireland back into the match, and the game was poised for a thrilling finish.
Abhishek’s wicket brought about a cluster of wickets. In the end, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel and Harshit Rana tried their best, but it wasn’t meant to be as India went down by 34 runs to give Ireland a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
