India barely broke into a sweat in the unexpected sunshine in Dublin as they beat Ireland by 143 runs in the second and final T20I to claim the series 2-0.
Virat Kohli‘s men finished off the Ireland leg of their nearly three-month tour in style after posting a daunting 213-4 in 20 overs after being asked to bat by hosts’ skipper Gary Wilson.
In reply, the Irish folded for just 70 runs inside 13 overs to hand the visitors a comprehensive victory.
Here, we look at the key talking points from the lopsided clash at the Malahide Cricket Club.
VIRAT KOHLI FALLS TO CHASE AGAIN
Virat Kohli’s start to the tour of Ireland England started in the worst possible fashion after he was dismissed for a second-ball duck by Ireland pacer Peter Chase in the first T20I.
Things did not go any better for the India skipper in the second T20 after a change in batting order which saw Kohli promote himself to open the innings with KL Rahul.
The right-handed batsman looked uncomfortable throughout his eight-ball stay at the crease before an unconvincing pull shot saw him hole out in the deep to the bowling of Chase once again.
Kohli is knows as the ‘master of the chase’ in limited overs cricket but in Ireland, it was Chase who mastered Kohli.
Kohli failed to reach double figures in Ireland.
RAHUL MAKES IT COUNT
The Ireland T20s were meant to be KL Rahul’s chance to shine and reinstate himself in India’s limited-overs setup after enjoying a fine IPL 2018. However, the opening batsman found himself on the bench as Kohli opted to experiment with the middle-order in the first T20.
When given his chance in the second T20 in place of Shikhar Dhawan, Rahul grabbed it with both hands. The right-hander picked up from where he had left off in the IPL as he found boundaries and sixes at will with some of the cleanest hitting you will see.
Dealing mainly in sixes, Rahul brought up his half-century off just 28 balls with a towering shot over the hence. His 36-ball 70 included three boundaries and six sixes.
KL Rahul is the only cricketer to score 700+ T20 runs with 50+ average and 150+ strike rate in 2018...
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) June 29, 2018
PANDYA’S CAMEO
Despite quick-fire half-centuries from Rahul and Raina, India looked like falling short of the 200-run mark as Manish Pandey struggled to find the boundaries. That was until Hardik Pandya decided to take matters into his own hands.
The India all-rounder was a man possessed at the Malahide Cricket Club ground as he sent the ball to all parts of the ground in the final two overs of the innings. Pandya smashed two sixes in the penultimate over bowled by Chase before hitting two sixes and a four in the final over bowled by Kevin O’Brien. The all-rounder’s unbeaten 32 runs came off just nine deliveries as India posted consecutive 200-plus scores in T20Is for the first time in their history.
Four sixes in an innings lasting less than 10 balls:
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) June 29, 2018
Dwayne Smith v Ban, Joburg, 2007 (7 balls)
Chris Jordan v WI, Bridgetown, 2014 (9 balls)
HARDIK PANDYA v Ire, Malahide, 2018 (9 balls)#IREvIND
IRELAND TOUCH ANOTHER LOW
T20 can be a challenging format but Ireland are a Test nation and are expected to put up a much better performance than the one they did on Friday.
Their batting woes were in focus once again at Dublin as batsman after batsman went after the bowling without convictionor a clear gameplan. The hosts lost half the side inside seven overs.
Gary Wilson’s men were in real danger of succumbing to their lowest T20 score – 68 – after losing their ninth wicket for the same score before Boyd Rankin helped avoid that humiliation. That was as good as it got for the hosts as Rankin was stumped off the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav the very next delivery to consign the hosts to the joint second-worst loss (143 runs) in T20I cricket.
Ireland’s batsmen had no answer to India’s bowling variety.
