Abhishek Sharma admitted that Ireland deserved their win after India’s disappointing performance in the opening T20I in Belfast. The left-handed batsman said India failed to execute their plans and admitted that the visitors were outclassed in all three departments despite entering the match as clear favourites.
Ireland stunned the T20 world champions with a 34-run win at the Civil Services Cricket Club on Friday, registering their first win over India in any format. Abhishek struggled alone, scoring 50 runs in 20 balls, but India’s star-studded batting lineup failed to chase down the target. Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy started with defeat.
Ireland completely deserved to win after performing better than us – Abhishek Sharma
Abhishek Sharma received little support from the rest of India’s batting lineup. Speaking after the match, the opening batsman admitted that Ireland outclassed India in every department and said that the visitors failed to execute their plans on the field.
“Ireland thoroughly deserved the win after outperforming us in all three departments. We couldn’t execute our plans, but we will learn from this defeat and come back stronger in the next match,” Abhishek told reporters after the game.
We failed as a team – Abhishek Sharma Brutal statement
: Ireland thoroughly deserved to win after getting the better of India in all three departments. He admitted that India failed to execute key plans, but stressed that the team will learn from the defeat and aim to come back stronger… pic.twitter.com/8lAzKL5JSb
– Sam (@cricsam02) June 27, 2026
Before Friday’s defeat, India had won all their previous eight T20 matches against Ireland. The visitors will now look to level the two-match series when the second and final T20I is played at the same venue in Belfast on Sunday.
India was out for 148 runs in the first T20.
Shreyas Iyer was chosen to bowl first in the opening match of the series. Ireland captain Lorcan Tucker led from the front with 50 off 36 balls. Gareth Delany added 49 runs from 32 balls as Ireland posted a challenging score of 182/9 in 20 overs.
Harshit Rana was India’s standout bowler on his return, taking 3 for 24 in four overs. However, the rest of the attack struggled to contain the Ireland batsmen, who kept the scoreboard ticking with regular boundaries throughout the innings.
India’s chase never gained momentum due to wickets falling at regular intervals. Abhishek Sharma kept the visitors in the contest, but his dismissal led to another collapse and the middle order was exposed.
Shivam Dubey briefly revived India’s hopes with a quickfire 25 off 14 balls, but Ireland’s bowlers remained in control. Debutant Matthew Hollard and left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys took three wickets each, as India were bowled out for 148 in 18.5 overs. Hollard was named player of the match on his debut.
Despite India’s defeat, Abhishek Sharma broke records!
Although India suffered a disappointing defeat, Abhishek Sharma continued his stellar performance in T20I cricket. The left-handed opening batsman scored his 11th T20I half-century and became the fastest Indian batsman to reach 1,000 T20I runs in terms of balls faced.
Abhishek achieved the milestone in just 528 balls, breaking Suryakumar Yadav’s previous Indian record of 573 balls. Suryakumar has scored 3,273 runs in 113 T20Is for India, which includes four centuries and 25 fifties.
The 25-year-old has scored 1,488 runs in 47 T20Is at an average of 33.81. He has scored two centuries and 11 half-centuries in this format and is just two sixes away from completing 100 sixes in T20I cricket.
