BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — 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 was 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.
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.
Instead, 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 new India captain Shreyas 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.
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