Ireland shock T20 world champions India with historic 34-run win

Reigning T20 World Cup-winner India, playing under a new captain and new-look team, suffered an embarrassing 34-run defeat to Ireland in the opening T20I of the two-match series at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast on Friday. This is India’s first-ever defeat to Ireland after surging to eight consecutive wins in the shortest format.

India rested wonderkid Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and lost to Ireland for the first time in men's international cricket on Friday.

Ireland was made to bat first in the Twenty20 and recovered from 51-4 to rack 182-9 at Stormont.

India were all out for 148 with seven balls remaining and lost by 34 runs in its first match since winning a second successive T20 World Cup in March.

"We are not going to forget what happened and there's a lot to learn from this game," new India captain Shreyas Iyer said after his first T20 since 2023. "Going to come out all guns blazing in the next game."

They play a second and last T20 on Sunday at the same ground before India leaves for England and a five-game series.

The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi's senior debut for India has been hugely anticipated since he tore apart some of the world's best bowlers to top the Indian Premier League batting charts. But he was left out on Friday as India retained seven of the XI which became the reigning two-time world champions.

"(Sooryavanshi) is a gun player but we have some tremendous players who have done well for us so we are backing them," Iyer said. "He will get his chance."

It was Ireland's two debutants who enjoyed an unforgettable day.

India-born left-arm quick Jai Moondra and medium-pacer Matt Hollard shared five wickets.

Moondra bowled opener Sanju Samson with his first delivery and returned to catch off his own bowling Shivam Dube, India's last recognized batter. Moondra took 2-25 and would have had a third wicket off his last delivery but Harshit Rana was dropped at long-on.

Hollard took the wicket of Ishan Kishan with his second delivery on debut, plus Iyer, and finished with Washington Sundar's wicket for 3-28.

Like Ireland, India lost three wickets in the powerplay but opener Abhishek Sharma flew to 49 off 20 balls when he was out caught in the deep.

Nobody else scored more than Dube's 25.

Ireland kept picking off the Indians regularly and beside Hollard and Moondra, Matthew Humphreys grabbed 3-28. Humphreys injured his hand trying to take a tough caught-and-bowled chance off Axar Patel. But with the hand strapped, he finished off the match by ousting Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh in the 19th over and was mobbed by his teammates.

"It's pretty special to beat the world champions at home," said Lorcan Tucker, given the Ireland captaincy following injuries to five front-liners.

"We scrapped through the game, we had some tough periods but we we stuck to it, we were diligent."

Rana hobbled Ireland in the powerplay to 36-3. Ben Calitz welcomed Prasidh Krishna in his first T20 since 2023 with a pair of sixes then was caught by the medium-pacer.

Axar Patel should have had the wickets of Tucker and Gareth Delany but both were dropped. Tucker went to 50 off 35 balls and was out next ball. Delany gave Ireland a storming finish when he hit three sixes in a row off Krishna and was out for 49 off 32 to Singh, who took 2-28. Patel claimed 2-33. ___

Agencies