India vs Ireland 2nd T20 Preview: Kohli Eyes to Clean Sweep

Ireland would be hoping that India’s planned experiments with their batting would help the home bowlers.

Virat Kohli-led Team India outplayed Ireland in the first of two Twenty20 Internationals as the visitors scored 208/5 before restricting the hosts for 132/9 in Dublin on Wednesday. As the two teams meet for the second time at the same venue on Friday, Ireland would be hoping to hit back against their higher-ranked opponents. Although the margin of defeat in the opener was 76 runs, Ireland were quite impressive overall. After Indian openers Rohit Sharma (97) and Shikhar Dhawan (74) blazed away to put up a 160-run stand in 16 overs, the Irish bowlers did manage to claw back. Peter Chase, who recorded figures of 4 for 35, was the pick of the Ireland bowlers as he got rid of MS Dhoni, Sharma and skipper Kohli at crucial junctures.

Boyd Rankin and Paul Stirling also managed to keep things moderately tight too. As far as the batsmen were concerned, James Shannon, who is not very experienced in international cricket, did well against a strong bowling attack to score a 35-ball 60 with five fours and four sixes.

In the end, Ireland fell well short on all counts as Kuldeep Yadav, the Player of the Match, claimed 4 wickets 21 and got India a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

“They played the fast bowlers well, but struggled against the spinners, because they were not using their feet properly. We (he and Yuzvendra Chahal) varied the pace. Maybe they are not used to it,” said Yadav.

“I did not expect it to spin like it did in the second innings,” Yadav said after the game.

Now that India have started their much-anticipated tour of the United Kingdom on a bright note, Kohli said that the touring party will experiment with their middle-order batting. The 29-year-old believes that a flexible batting order will help keep India’s opponents guessing while they are in Ireland and England.

India can’t lose the series now, so the team management has decided to field the players like Dinesh Karthik, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Siddarth Kaul and Umesh Yadav, who missed the first outing.

“We’re going to give everyone a go in this series. The management and me as captain decided it. There’re no mysteries and we’re looking everyone to give game time,” said Kohli at the post-match ceremony.

Another run-fest is on the cards at the warm and sunny Malahide on Friday and Ireland will have an excellent opportunity to notch up a win against a top team, while India would be hoping to make light work of their lower-ranked opposition.

Squads:

Ireland: Gary Wilson (capt/wk), Andy Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Andy McBrine, Kevin O’Brien, William Porterfield, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, James Shannon, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson.

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav.

“Ankit Vaishnav”