DUBLIN: Hardik Pandya got off to a winning start as India captain as the tourists chased down Ireland’s 108-4 to win a rain-affected T20 international by seven wickets on Sunday.

The first match of a two-game series in Malahide was reduced to 12 overs per side due to a rain-delayed start.

Pandya won the toss and inserted the hosts with the forecast of more rain prompting him to favour the chase.

Ireland got off to a terrible start as captain Andy Balbirnie was out for a duck before Paul Stirling (4) and Gareth Delany (8) also fell inside the first four overs.

However, Harry Tector’s 64 not out, aided by Lorcan Tucker’s 18 off 16 balls, at least allowed Ireland to set a respectable total.

India also stumbled early on in their reply as Craig Young took the wickets of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.

But they were never in trouble with the required rate as Deepak Hooda smashed an unbeaten 47 off 29 balls and Pandya added 24 before he was trapped lbw by Josh Little.

Hooda completed the job with back-to-back boundaries as India reached 111-3 with 16 balls to spare.

PANDYA BACKS MALIK

Pandya backed fast bowler Umran Malik to make his mark on the international stage despite his nervous debut against Ireland.

Malik, who lit up this year’s Indian Premier League and sent down three of the five fastest deliveries of the competition, marked his arrival in Malahide with a 92 mph (148 kph) thunderbolt but his only over cost 14 runs.

“When you play for India for the first time, and the journey he has taken, it’s important to give such a bowler and such a talent time,” said Pandya. “Whether it was a good day or a bad day is irrelevant. For him, just to play for India is itself a very big thing, and that is something which I’m very happy for, (irrespective) of how the result went, good or bad, it’s okay.

“I want to let him enjoy this moment because it doesn’t come every time. A debut happens only once.”

Ireland will host India in the second T20 of the two-match series on Tuesday in Malahide.

Scoreboard

IRELAND:

P. Stirling c Hooda b Pandya 4 A. Balbirnie b Kumar 0 G. Delany c Karthik b Khan 8 H. Tector not out 64 L. Tucker c Patel b Chahal 18 G. Dockrell not out 4 EXTRAS (LB-7, W-3) 10 TOTAL (for four wickets, 12 overs) 108 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Balbirnie), 2-6 (Stirling), 3-22 (Delany), 4-72 (Tucker) DID NOT BAT: M. Adair, A. McBrine, C. Young, J. Little, C. Olphert
BOWLING: Kumar 3-1-16-1, Pandya 2-0-26-1, Khan 2-0-22-1 (1w), Patel 1-0-12-0, Malik 1-0-14-0 (1w), Chahal 3-0-11-1

INDIA:

D. Hooda not out 47 I. Kishan b Young 26
S. Yadav lbw Young 0 H. Pandya lbw Little 24
D. Karthik not out 5 EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-1, W-7) 9 TOTAL (for three wickets, 9.2 overs) 111 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-30 (Kishan), 2-30 (Yadav), 3-94 (Pandya) DID NOT BAT: R. Gaikwad, A. Patel, B. Kumar, A. Khan, U. Malik, Y. Chahal BOWLING: Little 2-0-39-1 (1w), Adair 2-0-14-0 (2w), Young 2-0-18-2 (1w, 1nb), McBrine 1-0-21-0 (1w), Olphert 2-0-18-0 (2w). RESULT: India won by seven wickets.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2022