Ireland vs India 2018, first T20I: Hits and Misses

India kick started their tour of United Kingdom in style as they beat Ireland by 76 runs in the first T20I in Malahide, Dublin. With this win, they took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match T20I series that is preceeding the all-important England-India series.

After being put into bat, Indian openers got India off to a flying start as they went after the Irish bowlers right from word go. They had their slices of luck but were brutal with the willow and didn't give the opposition a sniff to pull things back. Both reached their individual fifties and were looking good for their centuries before Shikhar Dhawan holed out to Stuart Thompson off the bowling of Kevin O'Brien.

Suresh Raina didn't last long and when India were looking at a score in excess of 220, pacer Peter Chase dismissed MS Dhoni for 11, Rohit Sharma for 97 and Virat Kohli for a second-ball duck and restricted the visitors to 208/5 in 20 overs.

Chasing a mammoth target, the hosts were never in the chase as they lost their main man, Paul Stirling early. While James Shannon looked good with the bat, he kept losing wickets at regular intervals and when he departed for 60, it was just a formality for the Indian bowlers as Ireland were restricted to just 132/9.

Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he ended with figures of 4/21 while his spin twin Chahal picked 3/38 in his four overs. Kuldeep was adjudged the player of the match for his match-winning spell.

Let us take a look at five hits and misses from this game.

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Hit: James Shannon

When Ireland lost Paul Stirling early, the lost half the battle. But, his opening partner James Shannon kept them in the chase as he took on the Indian bowlers at regular intervals.

Though he had his slice of luck when Yuzvendra Chahal and Rohit Sharma dropped him early in his innings. Since then, he looked comfortable as he scored 10 runs off Hardik Pandya's first over and hit Chahal for three sixes.

Before this match, he had just 49 runs in T20Is and 51 runs in his international career. Today, he reached his maiden international fifty and scored 60 out of 85 runs his team had scored at the time of his dismissal.

Miss: Stuart Thompson

While the Indian batsmen were wrecking havoc, they targetted Ireland all-rounder Stuart Thompson, who conceded 31 runs in his two overs.

He bowled his first over inside the field restriction overs and conceded 17 runs. It was his over when Shikhar Dhawan broke the shackles. He came back to bowl his second over in the death and was greeted by Suresh Raina with two boundaries off the first two balls and went for 14 in his second.

Though he took three catches, Thompson also dropped two catches that helped Rohit to score 97.

Hit: Indian wrist spinners

Ever since the emergence of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, they have taken the world by storm as they are turning out to be proven match-winners for Virat Kohli in the limited-overs formats.

The ongoing tour of UK is a litmus test for them as conditions in England will not assist them and if they manage to do well there, it will be a big bonus for the Men in Blue ahead of the 2019 World Cup. They started the tour on a great note as they shared seven wickets among them in the first T20I against Ireland.

They not only kept things tight in the middle overs but also chipped in with wickets in regular intervals. Kuldeep ended with figures of 4/21 in his four overs while Chahal accounted for 3/38 in his spell.

Miss: Paul Stirling

With Ireland chasing a mammoth target, all eyes were on their swashbuckling opener Paul Stirling to do the job for his team by getting them off to a flier.

If one man who could have made a difference for the Irishmen, then it had to be Paul Stirling, who has a reputation as a big hitter.

But, he managed to play just three balls and didn't look convincing in his short stay at the crease before he holed out to Kuldeep Yadav off the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah for just 1.

Hit: Indian openers

A lot of talks were going around before the start of the first T20I as India had three very reliable options for the opener's role in Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul and the team management decided to make the in-form Rahul warm the bench in favor of the veteran opening combination.

Both Dhawan and Rohit repaid the faith the team management had in them as they both put on 160 runs in 16 overs for the opening wicket before Dhawan was caught at long-on for a 45-ball 74 which included five fours and as many sixes.

Rohit, on the other hand, should consider him unlucky as he fell three runs short of his third T20I century as he was castled for 97 off 61 balls with the help of eight fours and five sixes.