Ireland created history on Friday as they defeated India, the three-time T20 World Cup winners, the team won the last two T20 World Cups, and took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. It was Ireland’s first victory against India in international cricket, while playing 12th international game (9th T20I meeting).
After the Indian captain Shreyas Iyer chose to field first, Ireland scored 182/9 in 20 overs. In reply, India were all out for 148 runs in 18.5 overs, as Ireland won the match by 34 runs. It was an international captaincy debut for Iyer, while Ireland’s Jai Moondra and Player of the Match Matt Hollard made their international debuts.
Ireland didn’t have a good start, as the hosts lost the first three batters inside the powerplay, while struggling at 51/4 in the eighth over. Captain Lorcan Tucker and Gareth Delany held the innings strongly, as they had a 64-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Both batters managed to reach the 20-run mark, which none of the other Irish batters managed to replicate. Tucker scored 50 off 36 balls with five fours and two sixes, while Delany scored 49 off 32 balls with three fours and three sixes.
Among the Indian bowlers, Harshit Rana (3/24) and Arshdeep Singh (2/28) shared five wickets in between, while Axar Patel picked up two wickets (2/33).
In the response, opener Abhishek Sharma provided a flying start with 49 off just 20 balls with seven fours and two sixes, but there was hardly any support, as the Indian innings was far away from chasing that total. Only Shivam Dube (25) was the other Indian batter to reach the 20-run mark, along with two more double-digit scores (Tilak Varma 19 and Axar Patel 15).
Among the Irish bowlers, the debutant Matt Hollard had the match-winning bowling figures of 4-0-28-3. Also, Matthew Humphreys got three wickets (3/38), while another debutant Jai Moondra (2/25) also took two wickets.
Key Match Stats of 2026 Ireland vs India 1st T20I
After Andy Balbirnie (60), Lorcan Tucker became the second Irish captain to record a T20I half-century against India.
Ireland recorded their first international cricket win against India.
After Andre Botha (August 2008), Matt Hollard became the second Irish debutant to win a Player of the Match award on T20I debut. Overall, he became the fifth Irish cricketer to win a Player of the Match award on any international cricket format debut.
