India begin long tour by conquering Ireland 2-0

Men in Blue dominate with a 143 run victory over Ireland in the second T20 match played at Dublin. KL Rahul and Suresh Raina had a healthy partnership scoring 70 and 69 runs respectively. Hardik Pandya finished off the first innings in style blasting bowlers all over the park. He hit 32 runs in just nine balls. A clinical and collective performance later on with the ball in hand resulted in Ireland managing to score just 70 runs. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal picked three wickets each and finished things off in style.

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Team India will take this as a perfect warm up before heading to England for the big matches. Virat Kohli wanted all players to get a chance in the two T20’s so that they get accustomed to the conditions similar to England. Apart from Dinesh Karthik, almost everyone has had a good outing in the two matches and look well set to take on the confident English side.

Ireland won the toss and chose to field. It proved to be a bizarre decision once again as India’s top order thrashed bowlers all around the park. Kevin O’Brien gave the home team a glimmer of hope by picking two wickets in one over but Hardik Pandya smashed huge sixes at the end of the innings taking India to a mammoth total of 213. William Porterfield showed some fight but perished while playing an extravagant shot. The spin twins finished it off yet again for India.

KL Rahul won the man of the match for his blistering 70 run knock, whereas Yuzvendra Chahal bagged the man of the series award.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli will surely have some selection headaches in the coming matches. A headache that he will love to have over and over again.

India play first T20 against England on 3rd July at Manchester.

Brief scores – India 213/4 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 70 off 36, Kevin O’Brien 4-0-40-3) beat Ireland 70/10 in 12.3 overs (Gary Wilson 15 off 18 balls, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-21-3) by 143 runs.