Cricket

'The underdogs almost got it'- Twitter shocked as India deny Ireland the last-ball thriller

India beat Ireland by four runs in a high-scoring encounter in India's tour of Ireland. Here is how Twitter reacted.

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Hardik Pandya-Umran Malik

Hardik Pandya-Umran Malik (Image source- Twitter)

India beat Ireland by four runs in a high-scoring thriller in India's tour of Ireland. The Hardik Pandya-led team amassed a massive total owing to excellent performances from Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson. Ireland also followed it up with an entertaining game with the bat. In the end, India managed to restrict Ireland from chasing the target.

India won the toss and decided to bat first at the Malahide Cricket Club. They lost an early wicket in Ishan Kishan (three), but Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson played a splendid knock to get into a great position. They started attacking without wasting any time on a wicket that looked good to bat on. The two helped India to a score of 54 in the powerplay. They always maintained a high scoring rate, and both reached their maiden half-centuries.

Hooda then held the strike for most of the partnership and continued playing well. The partnership was finally broken by Mark Adair in the 17th over with the wicket of Samson (77). The two added 176 runs for the second-wicket partnership. Hooda, on the other hand, completed his century in the 18th over. He became only the fourth Indian to score a century in T20Is. However, after his century, the men in blue lost a few wickets in quick succession. They managed 225 runs and lost seven wickets in the first innings.

In the chase, Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirine got off to a flying start. The two veteran players took charge of putting Ireland in a good position. They added 72 quick runs in their partnership. Ravi Bishnoi finally broke the partnership with the wicket of Stirling (40) with a brilliant googly in the sixth over. Despite losing another wicket, the team captain kept playing superbly, reaching his half-century in the tenth over.

While trying to score big, Balbirine (60) was finally dismissed by Harshal Patel in the next over for a team score of 117. The Irish team slowed down after his wicket, and lost Lorcan Tucker (five) as well. Harry Tector and George Dockrell then tried to increase the strike rate from the 15th over as they started scoring a few boundaries.

They added 47 runs in the partnership before Tector (39) was dismissed in the 18th over for a team score of 189. With 37 runs needed in 17 balls, the game was evenly poised. The batters hit a few boundaries to take the game to the wire. However, Umran Malik held his nerves to defend six runs on the last ball.

Here is how Twitter reacted

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India tour of Ireland