Malahide: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, and Rinku Singh played impressive knocks to take India to a healthy 185 for 5 in the second T20I against Ireland here Sunday.
Fine hands by Gaikwad (58, 43 balls, 6×4, 1×6), Sanju Samson (40, 26 balls, 5×4 1×6) and Rinku Singh (38, 21 balls, 2×4, 3×6) placed India in a position to wrap this series with a match to go.
India had won the rain-marred first T20I by two runs under the DLS method.
India started their innings in a brisk fashion through opener Yashasvi Jaiswal who made an 18 off 11 balls with a couple of fours and a six off pacer Josh Little.
But the innings failed to build on the promise as Jaiswal’s attempt to pull Craig Young ended in the hands of Curtis Campher at deep.
Tilak Varma failed to make an impression in the second straight game, as this time a mistimed pull off Barry McCarthy was snaffled by George Dockrell close to the ropes.
At 35 for 2, India needed some solidity and momentum at the same time. The visitors gained that through Samson and Gaikwad for the third wicket.
Samson and Gaikwad milked 71 runs between them to carry India past the 100-run mark in the 12th over.
Samson, who has triggered selection discussions ahead of India’s squad announcement for Asia Cup 2023 on Monday, played a nice, little innings of 40 off 26 balls that contained five fours and a six.
Gaikwad was keen to give strike to his in-flow partner, and the Kerala player did not waste the chance either. Samson tore into Josh Little in the 11th over, hammering him for 18 runs.
An inside-out loft and a slap over covers and a guide through the cordon brought him three fours in a row.
He garnished that train of aggression with a swivel pull that fetched him a maximum over the fine leg.
However, a moment of misfortune ended his stay. Samson wanted to play leg-spinner White over the covers off a wide ball on the off-stump, but he could only manage to drag the delivery back onto his stumps.
At 105 for 3 in the 13th over, India had a good launchpad to get to a sizable total.
Gaikwad kept his end going with a steady innings. It was an anti-thesis to usual T20 innings as he looked to build the innings around him.
The right-hander reached his fifty, second in T20Is, with a nice pull off White. In a rare moment of aggression on this day, Gaikwad lifted White for a six right over the head of the bowler for a six.
However, McCarthy’s slow ball drew curtains on Gaikwad’s innings, a hoist ended in the hands of a running-in Harry Tector at mid-off. India were 129 for 4 then.
But India had a couple of big hitters in their ranks in Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube, and they showed their power-hitting prowess in the 19th and 20th over.
The penultimate over by McCarthy went for 22 runs with Rinku carting him for two sixes and a four, and Mark Adair’s final over produced 20 runs as India motored on.
PTI
