Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma registered an embarrassing record after both India batters were dismissed for golden ducks during the second T20I against Ireland on Sunday. It was the first time in history that both Indian openers were dismissed for golden ducks in the same T20I innings. Samson was trapped LBW by left-arm pacer Jai Moondra on the very first ball of the chase. Just three deliveries later, Abhishek completely miscued his first ball, sending a simple catch to Matthew Hollard. The only other opening duo from a Full Member nation to be dismissed for golden ducks in the same T20I innings were Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar against West Indies in 2018.
Meanwhile, Samson became the first Indian batter to be dismissed on the first ball of a T20I innings on two separate occasions.
Prince Yadav returned with figures of 3-22 as India produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict Ireland to 154/8 in the second T20I at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Stormont on Sunday.
At one point, Ireland were primed to get 180, especially with Harry Tector (53) and Ben Calitz (37) sharing a 65-run stand. But losing wickets in a hurry at the end meant Ireland could just pass 150-mark. For India, Prince was impressive on debut – hitting hard-lengths and mixing yorkers and slower balls to outsmart Irish batters in the fag end.
Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube and Harshit Rana were amongst the wickets too, while Axar Patel and second debutant Suryansh Shedge were wicketless. Put in to batting first, Ireland were off to a flying start with Ross Adair smashing successive sixes off Arshdeep in the opening over. But Rana struck in the second over to remove Tim Tector, before Arshdeep dismissed Adair for 16 to peg the hosts back
Ireland were further dented when Lorcan Tucker was caught behind off Prince, as they reached 58/3 at the halfway stage. But Tector, playing his 100th T20I game, held the innings together and found support from Calitz, as they easily got boundaries off Shedge and Axar. Their partnership threatened to take Ireland close to 180 before Dube turned the tide by removing Calitz and Gareth Delany on successive balls in the 15th over.
After a four-minute rain delay, George Dockrell‘s cameo of 19 and Tector’s fighting half‑century kept Ireland afloat. But Prince’s clever variations saw him dismiss Tector and Liam McCarthy in the final over, thus capping a memorable outing for him in T20I jersey, as India now look to chase down 155 and level the two‑match series after suffering a 34‑run defeat in the opener – their first‑ever loss to Ireland in international cricket.
(With IANS inputs)
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