Belfast (Ireland): If anyone thought their 34-run victory in the first T20 International against world champions India was a flash in the pan, Ireland proved the doubters wrong on Sunday.
In what was the greatest day in the history of Irish cricket, the green shirts won the second T20 International by a solitary run to seal an unthinkable 2-0 clean sweep. For the Indians, it was a new low as they lost their first T20I series after 16 consecutive triumphs.
There is bound to be some harsh words in the Indian dressing room and a bitter post-mortem all around, especially as the team management kept 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi out of the playing XI yet again.
Chasing 155, Sanju Samson fell for a golden duck for the second successive game. The other opener Abhishek Sharma, too, was dismissed off the first ball he faced. And when skipper Shreyas Iyer inside-edged an intended drive on to his stumps, India were tottering at 19/3.
All the damage was inflicted by Jai Moondra, the 29-year-old medium-pacer born in Rajasthan’s Tonk. Not only was Moondra adjudged Player of the Match, he also received the trophy for Player of the Series for his efforts of 2/25 and 3/32 in the two games.
Tilak Varma made a fight out of it but none else held his nerve or played with enough cricketing sense on a pitch where six-hitting or blasting the ball to all parts of the ground wasn’t an easy task.
Harshit Rana showed some spark with the long handle in the end, but with India needing 20 in the final over, he was caught on the boundary line going for a crucial six off the penultimate ball of the final over.
BRIEF SCORES
Ireland 154/8 in 20 overs (Harry Tector 53, Ben Calitz 37; Prince Yadav 3/22, Shivam Dube 2/25, Arshdeep Singh 2/35).
India 153/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 55; Matt Hollard 3/26, Jai Moondra 3/32).
Result: Ireland won by 1 run.
Series: Ireland beat India 2-0.
Player of the Final: Jai Moondra.
Player of the Series: Jai Moondra.
