Dublin: India outclassed Ireland by 76 runs in the opening match of T20I 2018 at The Village, Malahide, in Dublin on Wednesday.
Put to bat, India scored an imposing 208 for five thanks to a brilliant opening partnership between Rohit Sharma (97 from 61) and Shikhar Dhawan, who made a blazing 74 off 45 balls.
India, however, lost Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (11) and Virat Kohli (0) in the same over to an impressive spell by Peter Chase, who finished with four wickets for 35 runs which included the all-important wicket of Rohit.
Hardik Pandya’s helicopter shot in the final ball drew loud cheer from the crowd.
In reply, Ireland could manage to score 132 runs before the entire team was bowled out.
India is the seventh nation to play 100 or more T20I matches. Pakistan leads the chart with a total of 128 T20I matches.
This was also the first bilateral series between India and Ireland. Both teams had only clashed once before this during ICC World Twenty20 at Nottingham in 2009, where India defeated Ireland by 8 wickets.
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