In a situation few people would have imagined, Ireland have now pushed India onto the brink of potentially conceding a T20I series defeat after a long time.
It is a quirk of a short, two-match T20I series that losing the first game means that you couldn’t clinch the rubber. And in the shortest format, the most volatile of the three forms of the game, it gets even quirkier.
Despite all of this, it was a shock result as the reigning T20 World Cup champions went down by 34 runs to a team that was missing at least four first-choice players and had two debutants, one of whom, Matthew Hollard, ran away with the Man of the Match award.
In the IND vs IRE 1st T20I on Friday at Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast, Shreyas Iyer, on his T20I captaincy debut, won the toss and elected to bowl first.
India began well with the ball, reducing Ireland to 51/4. But two of Ireland’s most experienced players ever, Lorcan Tucker and Gareth Delany, bailed the side out with knocks of 50 and 49, respectively, to post 182, a score that proved to be well above-par on a slow and bouncy pitch.
Only Abhishek Sharma got going for India, clobbering 49 runs off 20 balls, while no other batter could score more than 25. India couldn’t even last 19 overs and were bundled for 148.
Now, in the IND vs IRE 2nd T20I, scheduled for Saturday again in Belfast, India will be aiming to level the series and avoid the ignominy of losing their first T20I series in over two years.
IND vs IRE: When Was The Last Time India Lost A T20I Series?
The last time India lost a T20I series was in August 2023 in West Indies, where West Indies beat India in a five-match T20I series by 3-2.
Since then, India have featured in 16 T20I series, winning 15 of them and drawing one. It means that India currently stand at 16 consecutive undefeated T20I series or tournaments, and have won their last 12 T20I series. This epic victorious run has included triumphs at the T20 World Cups 2024 and 2026 and the Asia Cup 2026. Across these three major competitions, India lost only one match – to South Africa in the T20 WC 2026.
This is an impeccable record that India achieved under Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. However, this streak has been put under a threat by Ireland, with Iyer and Gambhir in the firing line.
India will need to tinker with their bowling plans, batting methods, and even slightly the team combination to overcome the stern Irish challenge.
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