table of contents
India national cricket team faced Ireland national cricket team in the first match of the two-match T20I series at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Stormont, Belfast, Ireland. This marked a fresh start for the Men in Blue under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, who did not have a good start to the series as India lost to Ireland for the first time.
Ireland won the match by 34 runs, as Shreyas Iyer won the toss and asked the home team to bat first. This was the new India team as they played against New Zealand in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 final. The core remained the same, but there were four changes from the last time they played a T20I match.
Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh gave a good start for India
When invited to bat first, Ireland’s opening batsmen Tim Tector and Ross Adair made a good start. But Harshit Rana, who returned to the team after a long injury, got success in his very first over, when Adair was out on the score of 12 runs. He also picked out Tim Tector on 17 runs.
Arshdeep Singh joined the party when he dismissed Harry Tector for a duck in three balls. Ireland’s struggles continued as Shivam Dubey took a wicket with the very first ball on his birthday and dismissed Benjamin Calitz for 15. After this, Lorcan Tucker and Gareth Delany made a partnership and Tucker completed his half-century in 35 balls.
Harshit Rana bounced back and broke the partnership as he took his third wicket and returned to the team to finish with a spell of 4/24. The partnership of 64 runs in 44 balls was broken as soon as Tucker was out on 50 runs. Gareth Delaney, who was caught out on 8, was out for 49, leaving Ireland at 182/9 in 20 overs.
India’s batsmen failed to chase the target and Ireland created history
Chasing the target, the Indian team came out with full force with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. But the former was out for five runs; However, Abhishek did not stop his carnage, and Ishan Kishan could not fire as he was out on a run. Shreyas Iyer also failed to cause trouble and was out after scoring three runs.
At one point the score of Men in Blue was 100/6. Shivam Dubey and Axar Patel tried to build a partnership but failed as Axar was out on 25 and Axar was back on 15. India were bowled out for 148 runs, one of the biggest upsets in T20I history.
Can’t take anything lightly – Shreyas Iyer after India’s crushing defeat
Shreyas Iyer, who did not have a good start as a captain, said that the team’s performance was not as expected, and also said not to take any team lightly as anything is possible in T20 cricket.
“In the beginning, the bowlers were bowling poisonously. But in the middle we lost the execution and let them hit it straight down the ground, where the boundaries are short. I thought 140 would have been a good score to chase given the start we had with the ball. But yes, great start as a captain (laughs).
Shreyas Iyer further said, “Definitely, we will forget what happened and will learn a lot from this game. We are going to give our all in the next game.” [The fast bowlers] There was help in the beginning and Shivam bowls important overs so I always trust him. Harshit Rana bowled brilliantly after returning from injury.”
Shreyas Iyer concluded, “(Message to the team) You can’t take anything for granted. You have to come forward and work hard and be in the present and if you have an opportunity to squeeze out the opponent, you have to do that.”
