‘Shuru hote hee khatam bhai’ – Fans react as India win rain-shortened first T20I vs Ireland via DLS method

Jasprit Bumrah’s much awaited return finally materialised in the first of the three T20Is against Ireland played at the Village Stadium on Friday, August 18. The visitors won the toss and interim skipper Jasprit Bumrah elected to field first. They did a commendable job of restricting the home team to 139/7 in 20 overs. Barry McCarthy with 51* off 33, including four boundaries and four maximums, was their highest scorer. He was followed by Curtis Campher with 39 off 33, including three fours and a six.

Talking of the bowling from the visitors, Jasprit Bumrah spearheaded the bowling attack on his return with figures of 2/24 in four overs. Ravi Bishnoi registered better figures with one run less conceded at 2/23 in four overs while returnee Prasidh Krishna followed his skipper’s footsteps to scalp two while giving away 32 runs in four overs. Lastly, Arshdeep Singh returned with one wicket while Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar remained wicketless.

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad put up 46-run opening stand

In response, India started their innings well through Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad. However, they lost two wickets at the score of 46 as Jaiswal fell for 24 off 23 while Tilak Varma followed him for a first-ball duck. The innings was then interrupted by rain. Unfortunately, there was no more play in the game and India won on grounds of a better DLS par score at that point in play. The DLS par score was set at 45 for 5.5 overs whereas India finished 47/2.

Craig Young remained the bright spark in bowling for the home team with figures of 2/2 in 0.5 overs. For India, Jaiswal and Gaikwad did majority of the job. While Jaiswal scored 24 off 23 with three fours and a six, Gaikwad remained unbeaten at 19* off 16, including one four and one six. Thus, India have established an early 1-0 lead in the series with two games to spare. The second game of the series will now be played at the same venue (The Village Stadium) on Sunday, August 20.

Here’s how fans reacted after the game: