Dublin: Indian wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav (3/16) and Yuzvendra Chahal (3/21) wrecked havoc to Ireland’s chase after India posted a massive 213 for four to hand the hosts a humiliating 143-run defeat in their second and final T20I match here, Friday.
Chasing 214 to win, Ireland lost wickets at regular intervals to be dismissed for a paltry 70 in 12.3 overs. Only four Irish batsmen managed to touch the double digit scores with skipper Gary Wilson (15) emerging top scorer. For India, Umesh Yadav (2/19), Siddarth Kaul (1/4) and Hardik Pandya (1/10) ably supported the wrist spin duo.
Earlier, continuing their tune-up for the England tour, KL Rahul (70, 36b, 3×4, 6×6) and Suresh Raina (69, 45b, 5×4, 3×6) struck attacking half centuries as India posted a huge 213 for four.
Rahul and Raina bossed the Irish bowling to put on 106 runs off 57 balls for the second wicket after the hosts won the toss and opted to field.
Siddarth Kaul made his T20I debut while Umesh Yadav, Dinesh Karthik and Rahul were included in the playing eleven. Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and MS Dhoni were rested.
Skipper Virat Kohli (nine) opened the innings with Rahul and fell cheaply. Rahul then took centre-stage and smacked the Irish bowling to all parts of the ground, replicating his purple-rich form from this season’s IPL. He brought up his fourth T20I half century off 28 balls and then accelerated further thereafter as India crossed the 100-mark in the 10th over.
Kevin O’Brien (3/40) gave a double blow to India in the 13th over dismissing Rahul and Rohit Sharma (zero). Raina then brought up his fifth T20I half century off 34 balls, adding 41 runs with Manish Pandey (21 n o) for the fourth wicket in the process. India were placed at 169 for four in the 18th over before a blitzkrieg from Pandya (32 n o, 9b, 1×4, 4×6) helped the visitors go past 200-run mark.
