The current Indian batting group’s weakenesses in conditions that aren’t batsmen-friendly was exposed once again, as Ireland won the second and final T20I by a run to seal the series 2-0 in Belfast on Sunday.

Unbelievable it may seem, but Ireland turned out to be the side that brought to a grinding halt the reigning T20 world champions’ streak of 16 straight T20I series wins. If the wicket isn’t a belter and the ground happens to be a little on the bigger side, the job gets a tad arduous for India’s strokeful wonders, which Ireland proved in this series.

India’s bowling unit, led by pacer Prince Yadav (3/22), who earned his maiden T20I cap replacing Prasidh Krishna, did a pretty decent job on a surface that wasn’t quite ideal for hitting through the line. Putting Ireland into bat, the likes of Prince, Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Dube fared well to restrict the hosts to 154/8.

But thereafter, the Indian-origin Jai Moondra was on top of India again, removing openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma along with captain Shreyas Iyer.

Shreyas played one back onto the stumps, as the ball looked to have gripped a little on the surface. Matt Hollard too continued with his impressive run with the scalps of Axar Patel, half-centurion Tilak Varma (55) and Suryansh Shedge, the other debutant.

Harshit Rana did launch one last-ditch effort, but India could only reach 153/9.

The much-awaited international debut of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi remains pending. The decision to keep the 15-year-old at the dugout was tactical, as India preferred all-rounder Shedge, who replaced Washington Sundar.