Hardik Pandya-led Indian cricket team won the second T20I against Ireland by four runs to seal the series 2-0 on Tuesday in Malahide, Ireland. Indian captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bat first at the ground in The Village, Dublin. Andy Balbirnie, the Ireland cricket team captain, lost the toss. Batting first, India piled a dynamic score of 225/7 on the board. In response to India’s batting, Ireland kept themselves in hunt until the final ball of the match as Ireland scored 221/5 in their 20 overs. It was a nail biting and thrilling match to experience. Indian team sealed its first victory in the 1st T20 held on Sunday. In the rain- hit opening of the 1st T20, India were always ahead of the run rate in the chase and with strong contributions from Ishan Kishan (26 off 11), Deepak Hooda (47 not out off 29) and skipper Hardik Pandya (24 off 12), cruised to victory in 9.2 overs.
In the Second T-20 on tuesday saw Deepak Hooda smashing a century and scoring 104 off 57 balls to become only the fourth Indian to hit a T20 International ton, while Sanju Samson contributing 77 runs off 42 balls and scoring his much awaited half century to power India to a gigantic 225 for seven after opting to bat first in the match. Opting to bat, Hooda showed he belonged to the big stage in this match with his sparkling stroke play in, both off the front and backfoot. Hooda and Sanju Samson scored India’s highest-ever partnership in T20s. The duo added a score of 176 runs off 87 deliveries for the second-wicket. Deepak and Sanju guided India to a massive 227/7.
Ireland batters were scoring boundaries and almost came close to chasing down the total, needing 17 runs from the final over to pull off a huge target set -up. Hardik Pandya gave young speedster Umran Malik the responsibility of bowling the last and most crucial over of the match. Umran Malik defended 17 runs in the final over of 2nd T20 mtach. Pandya in the post-match interview said this about giving an opportunity to Umran, “Not worried to be honest, I wanted to keep all the pressure out of my equation. I wanted to be in the present and I backed Umran Malik. He has pace, with his pace it’s always going to be tough for someone to achieve 18 runs. They played some amazing shots, they batted very well, credit to them and credit to our bowlers for holding their nerves. “
Ireland will be cautious of their record in Dublin as they have never gone past the total of 200 runs in the shortest format of the game. In the end, India survived the T20 by the barest of margins, but Ireland were ridiculously close to registering what could have been arguably their most special victory in international cricket.
