World champions India struggled with the conditions in Belfast in the opening T20I of the two-match series before falling short of the 183-run target by 34 runs. This is Ireland’s first win against India in any format.

India were undone by a bit of extra bounce on the wicket, and except for Abhishek Sharma, none of the batters managed to come to terms with it. They paid the price for going into the match with only a day’s practice session.

The think-tank decided to delay Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s debut but the opening combination lasted just seven balls for 16 runs before Sanju Samson dragged a delivery onto his stumps.

Abhishek (49 off 20 balls) was the only one to get to a decent score among the top-order batters. Six of the opener’s nine boundaries came on the off side as Ireland made the mistake of bowling to his strengths. Captain Shreyas Iyer managed only 3 on his return to the T20I side.

Ireland’s Matt Hollard had a memorable debut with 3/28. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas were dismissed early in the innings before Washington Sundar became his third wicket. Shivam Dube and Axar Patel could have tilted the scales in India’s favour with responsible batting but failed in their endeavour.

Given the batters’ performance, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Sooryavanshi is tried out in the second T20I on Sunday.

Rana strikes

Harshit Rana, coming back after knee surgery, found the going a little tough, but capitalised on the swing and seam on offer with 3/24.

Harshit finds his place in the side because of his knack for picking wickets. He didn’t disappoint and got two wickets inside the Powerplay through a short delivery and then a yorker.

Then as he was brought back in the 15th over with Ireland threatening to run riot with a 64-run stand for the fifth wicket, he almost immediately got success. This time it was a slower delivery which Ireland captain Lorcan Tucker (50 off 36) couldn’t keep down as he went for an overambitious shot.

The conditions were favourable for the pacers but Prasidh Krishna failed.