Ireland v India T20: Hosts stun world champions to claim series win
Second T20 international, Stormont
Ireland 154-8 (20 overs): H Tector 53 (47), Calitz 37 (23); P Yadav 3-22
India 153-9 (20 overs): Tilak 55 (46), Harshit 21 (10); Hollard 3-26, Moondra 3-32
Ireland won by one run
scorecard
Ireland’s historic weekend continued as they handed India their first Twenty20 series defeat since 2023 with a dramatic one-run victory at Stormont.
Ireland, who defeated India for the first time by 34 runs on Friday, stunned the world champions for the second time with Jai Moondra and Matthew Hollard taking part with three wickets.
A late charge from India required the visitors to score eight off the final two balls in the stand over, but Harshit Rana was caught by Tim Tector and bowled by his brother Harry to clinch a historic victory off the penultimate ball.
On Friday, where many expected and hoped India’s 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi would make his record-breaking international debut, Ireland stunned the T20 world champions to start a historic weekend.
It was the first win against India in any format in 12 attempts and the ninth time it has been won in T20s.
Then, just 24 hours later, Ireland won their first match at the Women’s T20 World Cup in England.
But things will get even better on Sunday.
The sell-out crowd of 4,000 at Stormont was disappointed that Sooryavanshi was sidelined again for the second T20 and India’s reaction was expected.
After all, they are world champions and underrated ones at that.
Harry Tector, playing his 100th match, became Ireland’s top scorer with 53 points, while the Indians restricted the home team to 154-8.
But the reaction was spearheaded by Moondra, who made his debut on Friday but became the new hero of Irish cricket when he caught Sanju Samson lbw with the first ball of the innings.
Moondra, who was born in India but moved to Dublin to study in 2021, then took the wickets of Abhiskek Sharma and captain Shreyas Iyer to leave India toiling at 19-3.
The wickets of Ishan Kishan and Azar Patel also fell, but Tilak Varma-led India remained in contention at the required rate of 10 runs going into the final six overs.
Tilak’s six off the first ball of the 17th over from Hollard put pressure on Ireland, but he was dismissed by Liam McCarthy when he was caught off the next ball and left India at 117-7.
A late rally from Harshit Rana was not enough to save the game for India and Ireland went on to win by a single run.
The win was made all the more remarkable given that debutants Moondra and Hollard only played after key players such as Mark Adair, Curtis Campher and Josh Little were injured.
In two wins that would go up with victories against England and Pakistan in previous years, Ireland made a statement against the best team in the world.
