India vs Ireland 2nd T20I, live scorecard
ALL OVER! Ireland have been bowled out for 70 - their 2nd lowest total in T20s and India have registered their biggest ever victory in T20Is. They have beaten Ireland by 143 runs to sweep the two-match series 2-0.
'Cool'deep
Catching practise! Tossed up ball around middle, Dockrell looks to clear Malahide. All he manages to do is clear up the crease for another man to take his place in the middle. He finds Umesh Yadav at long on to perfection. As easy as it gets. The Yadavs and the Indians rejoice.
What an absolute beauty from Yadav first up. Irish captain was beaten all ends up. Cracker. Yadav loops it over the eye level of the batsman, lands it outside off and spins it in from there. Gary look s to play it on the off side but the ball comes in sharply and rattles into the leg stump. Ireland is reeling at 44/7 and it doesn't look too bright for them now.
Another one bites the dust
And he is gone. Ireland are falling like nine pins. A tossed-up delivery on off, Simi moves cross to sweep it fine but misses it. The ball hits his front pad and the umpire raises his finger straightaway. The replays show that it would have hit his off stump.
Ireland five down
It keeps getting worse for Ireland. Kevin O'Brien now perishes for a duck and Irealand have lost their fifth wicket for 32 on board. Nothing special about that Pandya delivery, O'Brien tries a hoick on his second delivery and ends up horribly miscuing it. A good catch by Kuldeep at third man.
Too easy for Chahal
Peach! Or did Balbirnie turned it into one? Did not put his foot forward and that's the last thing you would do against Chahal. Chahal just played with Balbirnie there, bowled five flatter ones and finally tosses one up, which grips and turns to hit the top of off stump. Ireland 30 for 4
1st wicket for Kaul
That was ever so close, Nail O'Brien even called it a No Ball from the commentary box but the third umpire thinks otherwise. Siddharth Kaul has got his first international wicket. What a moment for the young man. That hurried on to James Shannon, was clearly beaten by the pace of Kaul and in the end, his miscued pull shot just lobbed to the cover fielder.
Six and out
Porterrfield walks too far across his stumps and ends up losing them. Umesh Yadav is ecstatic, gives a glare and throws a few words too. He was deposited deep into the stands in previous ball and he comes back to knock the stumps down with a fast fuller length delivery in the next.
Umesh Yadav strikes
Two balls, that's it! Umesh Yadav has got his first wicket. What a beauty there. For a moment it looked like we are watching IPL. Umesh ran in and bowled the perfect length delivery outside the off stump that moved slightly away from the right hander, enducing the false shot and got the outside edge. Raina takes a good reflex catch at a wide first slip. Ireland are one down without a run on the board.
The Ireland chase begins...
Pandya power
Hardik Pandya is on fire. Hits 4 sixes, scores 32 off 9 balls to take India way beyond 200. For the first time India have scored successive 200s in T20 cricket. They have posted 213 for 4 (Rahul 70, Raina 69) in the 2nd T20I. It has been a flurry of sixes - 13 in total - in The Village and Malahide.
O'Brien has another
Kevin O'Brien continues improving his numbers! He had just brought the cover fielder in the circle and pushed mid-wicket to the deep. He then bangs it short. Raina decides to take him on and plays the pull. Finds Dockrell to perfection in the deep on the mid-wicket fence. With this wicket, O'Brien becomes the joint-highest wicket-taker for Ireland in T20Is.
Brilliant innings from Raina
Kevin O'Brien picks up two in 1 over
Two in three balls for Kevin O'Brien, the man with the golden arm for Ireland. This is bowled very full outside off, Rohit looks to drive it away from his body. The ball takes the outer half of his blade and goes straight to Stirling at backward point. He makes no mistake and Kevin is up and running. This is Rohit's sixth duck in T20Is. Can Ireland strangle the Indians from here?
What a dolly! Lottery for Ireland! O'Brien lands it on a length around off, Rahul looks to punch it down the ground off the back foot. But all he manages to do is chip it back to the bowler. Kevin accepts the offering and has his hands aloft in triumph. The ball stopped on the batter on this occasion, perhaps landing on one of the naughty areas that Kartik reported while analyzing the pitch earlier. So, no ton for Rahul today.
4th T20I for Rahul
SIX! KL Rahul is in ominous touch and brings up his fourth T20I half century. Short length delivery angling in, the Indian opener swivels a touch and deposits it over the fine leg fence. This compounds the happy problem for the Indian team management.
India 59/1 at powerplay
Rahul and Raina have done a wonderful job after Kohli's early wicket. India have raced to 59 for 1 after the powerplay. Rahul batting on 23 and Raina on 21.
Chase again
No buttterflies this time around, George Dockerell takes a skier and Ireland have got Virat Kohli. Guess who is the bowler? It's Chase, the man who got three wickets in the last over of the 1st T20I, including Kohli. A well-directed bouncer, Kohli pushes forward and goes for the pull shot but does not get it off the middle and Dockrell takes a wonderful catch at fine-leg. India: 22/1
Well well, just when you thought the surprises are over. Rohit Sharma is not wearing his pads during the national anthem, meaning that Kohli and Rahul will open the innings for India and if reports are to be believed then Rohit will slot in at No.4 and Raina will come in at No. 3.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Siddarth Kaul, Yuzvendra Chahal
Ireland (Playing XI): Paul Stirling, James Shannon, William Porterfield, Andrew Balbirnie, Gary Wilson(w/c), Simi Singh, Kevin O Brien, Stuart Thompson, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase
Trivia: MS Dhoni is missing a game for the first time despite being fit. Umesh Yadav is making a comeback into the T20I side after 65 matches (most matches missed by an Indian between two T20Is), this will be his 2nd T20I.
Team News: William Porterfield comes back in and captain Gary Wilson will keep wickets. Hold your breaths for the Indian changes, cause there are four. KL Rahul comes in place of Dhawan, Dhoni is resting so Karthik will get the gloves, Kaul makes his debut in place of Bumrah and Umesh Yadav is playing in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Toss: Ireland won the toss and opted to bowl first against India at Dublin
Pitch Report: The pitch does look a bit more green than the other day but nothing alarming. Murali Karthik reckons the run fest on Wednesday may have forced the hosts to leave something for their new ball bowlers. Win the toss and bowl? 2 minutes to go for toss.
Kaul debuts
Straight away some news coming in from Malahide. Siddharth Kaul has been handed his T20I debut after two terrific seasons of IPL. So, Virat Kohli was full serious when he meant experiments, now let's see who else gets an opportunity and who misses out.
Hello and welome to the live blog of India vs Ireland 2nd T20I at Malahide, Dublin.
The Preview
Experiment is the buzzword as India prepare to take on Ireland in the second and final T20 International, aiming to strike the perfect balance while ringing in the changes here.
The Men in Blue got their three-month long tour of Ireland and England off to a fine start with a 76-run win on Wednesday.
Riding on half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, India scored 208-5. Thereafter Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal shared seven wickets to restrict the Irish to 132-9.
It indicated that India's first-choice eleven was functioning properly after a break of three months and tuning itself for the England tour.
The big question is of bench strength and chances for the likes of KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik and Umesh Yadav.
"...we are going to do a lot of experiments in the middle order...We are looking to give everyone game-time and want them to portray the qualities they possess because many guys go on tour and never get an opportunity to play," said skipper Virat Kohli post the first T20I.
It indicates that India have zeroed in on Rohit and Dhawan as their first-choice opening combination for the limited-overs' leg of this tour.
It also confirms that Rahul will bat in the middle-order whenever an opportunity presents itself, and it could be as early as the next game, keeping the England series in mind.
Kohli's words though do not shine enough light on whether India will go in for wholesale changes to their bowling attack as well.
Talking after the game he did say that 'looking at the squad, the changes are obvious'. Yet, at the same time, there are a few names that cannot be left out Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli himself, Dhoni and the two leg spinners.
India will have an advantage from the fact that the pitch for the second T20I is expected to play much in the same fashion as on Wednesday.
Both Kuldeep and Chahal were able to garner purchase from the strip, and Ireland skipper Gary Wilson went as far as to say that it "wouldn't have mattered if they had bowled first or second". Clearly, the gap in quality between the two sides is too far to bridge even for this gutsy Irish side.
Barring an unimaginable upset then, India do have the luxury of going with a batsman short and accommodating an extra bowler.
Kohli's mantra of giving chances to those sitting on the bench could be extended to the bowling line-up as well, where both Umesh Yadav and Siddarth Kaul are raring to go and longing for game time.
It is easily noticeable that the team management is reluctant to drop both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah whenever they are fit and available.
Leaving out Pandya for three full-time pacers and two spinners still gives Kohli five bowling options, enabling him to leave out Suresh Raina and Manish Pandey to bring in both Rahul and Karthik.
There is also the small matter of getting some time at the crease for himself after Kohli got out for a two-ball duck on his first outing on this tour.
While it is too early to worry about, it did ring in memories of his troubles in 2014 where he just couldn't buy a run, irrespective of formats.
Irrespective of the scope of team changes, on the strength of their batting and bowling, India will be firm favourites going into this second game.
Fielding though is a different matter, and the coaching staff will be expecting a better display from the Indian players than in their first outing.
As many as three outfield catches were dropped in the power-play overs, and a stronger opposition like England will definitely punish these errors.
For Ireland, it won't simply be a matter of turning up on the day. While the 200-plus target was far beyond their reach, they showed enough wherewithal to stick out in the middle and attempt to compete.
Asking for an upset on Friday will be too much, but they remain capable of springing a surprise or two on home soil. The biggest incentive for the hosts is another chance to play against one of the top T20 sides in the world in front of a festive and raucous crowd.
Teams:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Siddarth Kaul.
Ireland: Gary Wilson (c & wk), Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, George Dockrell , Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Kevin O'Brien, William Porterfield, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, James Shannon, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson.