3 Reasons Why India Lost to Ireland in 1st T20I at Belfast

India suffered an unexpected defeat to Ireland in the first T20I of the series at Belfast. The hosts defeated Team India by 34 runs. This shocking loss came just a few months after India became the T20 World Cup champions.

On the other hand, it was a historic win for Ireland cricket team as they defeated India, the best T20 team in the world right now, for the first time in internationals. This victory will be remembered in the Irish cricket history for a long time as they achieved something that nobody had expected before this game.

There were many moments in the game when India made silly mistakes, leaving the game out open. The hosts ensured to make full use of these mistakes to stun India. Let's have a look at the reasons why India lost to Ireland in the 1st T20I match at Belfast.

3 Reasons Why India Lost to Ireland in 1st T20I

1. Failing to capitalise on early wickets - At one point, India had Ireland reeling at 30-3 after putting the hosts to bat first on a tricky surface. The situation worsened for the home team as they lost their fourth wicket for 51. But, Ireland skipper Lorcan Tucker led from the front when his team needed him the most.
Tucker scored 50 off 36 balls and along with Gareth Delany, he took Ireland out of trouble. They put together a partnership of 64 runs and helped their team to a respectable score. In the end, Shreyas Iyer also felt that they should have been chasing 140 but conceded too many runs.

2. Two expensive overs - The IRE vs IND 1st T20I was well poised for the Men in Blue to restrict the hosts to around 160 runs. However, the 16th and the 17th over totally changed the complexion of the match.
The decision to bring Washington Sundar in the 16th over of the match didn't pay off for Shreyas Iyer as he conceded 19 runs. If this wasn't enough, the next over bowled by Prasidh Krishna went for a whopping 27 runs. These two overs, which yielded 46 runs in total, gave Ireland the much-needed momentum, which proved to be the difference in the end.

3. Unable to capitalise on early momentum with bat - After Abhishek Sharma gave India a flying start, it seemed that the Men in Blue would cruise to the target with ease. Abhishek once again showed why he is the best T20 batsman at the moment as he scored 49 off 20 balls.
However, wickets kept tumbling at the other end and after Abhishek's dismissal, India lost the momentum. The World champions were constantly troubled by the Irish debutants, Jai Moondra and Matt Hollard, and were put on the backfoot. In the end, they fell well short of the target.

India defeat vs Ireland in this game will be talked about for a long time now. The Men in Blue will be hoping that they forget this one off-day and come back for the next match with full of confidence. The next match will be played on June 28 on the same ground.