Ireland vs India 2018, 1st T20I: Five reasons why Ireland lost

The Indian Cricket Team have kicked off the English summer with a thumping victory over Ireland to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match T20 series. Virat Kohli and Co. won by a massive margin of 76 runs at the Mark Hawthorne Stadium in Dublin on Wednesday (June 27).

Gary Wilson won the toss and decided to bowl first, so as to give his team a chance to compete in the game with their relatively strong batting line-up. However, an Indian opening stand of 160 runs upfront killed the game from the very beginning, making it increasingly tough for the hosts to find a way through on the day.

Ultimately, a target of 209 proved to be a bit too much for the hosts, as they wilted for 132-9 in the chase.

Here are five reasons why Ireland lost to India in the opening game:

#5 Inability to handle wrist-spin

As they have done consistently in recent months, the leg-spin twins, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, terrorized the opposition batsmen with their bamboozling deliveries. The Irishmen kept trying to pick them through the chase, but kept getting it wrong and falling to the wrist-spin of the Indian duo.

Yadav, with incredible bowling figures of four for 21 in his quota of four bowlers, was the recipient of the Man of the Match award at the end of the game. The young bowler was responsible for the dismissal of James Shannon, highest run-scorer for the hosts in the chase.

Chahal did not disappoint too, scalping three dismissals on the day. He got the important wickets of Gary Wilson and Kevin O'Brien, thus breaking the very spine of the Irish batting line-up.

It will be interesting to see how the hosts handle the leg-spinners in the next game, as it will help demonstrate how quick and efficient is their adjustment to changing circumstances on the cricket field.

Chahal and Yadav, on the other hand, will want to keep performing like this consistently, especially with the big England tour coming up for India right after the T20 series against Ireland.

#4 Off-colour performance from key players

Irish skipper, Wilson, their biggest name, O'Brien, and their most experienced batsman, Paul Stirling, were all dismissed for a score of 10 or less on the day. It was essential for at least one of them to stay put on the crease for Ireland to have a chance at nicking victory in the game.

However, a collective failure of their seasoned campaigners is what let the hosts down on the day, as they were downed by the experience of the Indian unit. Newcomers like Simi Singh and Stuart Poynter disappointed as well, falling to the pressure of playing against the big boys in world cricket.

#3 Dropping Rohit Sharma twice

Australia v India - Game 3 — The right-hander was dropped by the hosts twice in two overs

The Indian opening combination is one of the best in the world, especially in limited overs cricket. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are not only consistent, but are also absolute match-winners on their day.

Hence, when both of them click at the same time in the same innings, it becomes increasingly tough for the opposition to find a foothold in the game. Moreover, if you end up dropping one of them in the process, you have just dug yourself deeper into a hole.

Ireland dropped Sharma not just once, but twice. The right-handed batsman took full advantage of the opportunities thrown his way, scoring a thumping 97 off just 61 balls on the day.

#2 Lacklustre bowling effort in first 15 overs

The 160-run partnership between Sharma and Dhawan at the top of the Indian batting order killed the game even before it went into the second innings. The two openers toyed with the bowling attack, using their left-hand-right-hand combination to smash boundaries at will.

While their strong performance on the day was down to the individual brilliance of the two batsmen, an unimpressive bowling effort by the hosts was also a significant contributing factor.

The medium-pace bowlers in the Irish attack kept delivering the ball in the hitting range of the two batsmen outside the off-stump, and the Indians kept making the most out of the same.

#1 Failure to build partnerships

The reason behind Ireland scaling the 200-run mark in a number of T20I matches recently is their ability to stitch strong partnerships through the batting innings. This is exactly what they lacked against India on the day, as Shannon continued to find a lone battle as every other batsman refused to accompany him on the crease for an extended period of time.

India had set a stiff target for the hosts going into the second innings, one which required a top-order player to bat through the chase and another batsman to support him with a stable partnership in the middle.

However, Ireland were unable to tick both the boxes, thereby falling to a one-sided Indian victory on the day.