IND vs IRE: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi omitted again-India suffer T20I whitewash against Ireland

India in Belfast (PC: BCCI)

India suffered a T20I whitewash against Ireland. After losing the first game by 34 runs, they failed to chase down 155 in the second, with the hosts securing a one-run victory. After suffering home series whitewashes in Tests against New Zealand and South Africa under Gautam Gambhir as head coach, this was another disappointing result. More on that later.

Earlier, Jai Moondra bowled a length delivery on middle stump and got the ball to jag back off the seam. Sanju Samson was beaten by the movement and looked plumb. The Indian opener, though, decided to review. Ball-tracking rubber-stamped the on-field umpire’s decision. Samson departed for a golden duck. Yet again, Moondra dismissed the right-handed batter with the first ball.

When the ball moves, Samson is usually out of his comfort zone. Inconsistency has been an issue throughout his career, which is one reason why he has played only 64 T20Is despite making his debut in the format 11 years ago. At the T20 World Cup earlier this year, he was not the team’s first choice but came back and redeemed himself brilliantly, walking away with the Player of the Tournament award. In India, the ball did not move. In Belfast, it did, and Samson was a sitting duck.

Three balls later, Abhishek Sharma blindly swung at another length delivery from Moondra. The extra bounce ensured he top-edged it, and Matt Hollard took an excellent running catch at short third. Abhishek, too, departed for a golden duck. India were 1/2 in the first over.

All the while, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi watched the proceedings from the dugout. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee felt the teenager had “picked himself” in the T20I squad for the series in Ireland and England. The Indian team management, headed by coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shreyas Iyer, clearly believe that Sooryavanshi needs a bedding-in period before being included in the playing XI. The management is entitled to its decision and is best placed to make that call. For the fans in Belfast, though, Sooryavanshi not getting a game was a let-down.

After being bowled out for 148 in the first T20I, changes were expected for the second game. Replacing Washington Sundar with Sooryavanshi would probably have been a logical call. Instead, Suryansh Shedge, the Mumbai all-rounder who joined the squad late as the replacement for the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy, was handed his international debut. A spin-bowling all-rounder made way for a seam-bowling one, keeping in mind the seaming conditions.

Prince Yadav also received his maiden T20I cap and the young fast bowler, who replaced Prasidh Krishna, gave a good account of himself, returning figures of 3/22 from four overs. His spell was one of the reasons India managed to restrict the hosts to under 160.

Coming back to Shedge’s inclusion, perhaps the team management deserves the benefit of the doubt. With a perennial question mark over Hardik Pandya’s fitness, India need to develop back-up options for the senior all-rounder, and matches like these provide an opportunity to experiment. Shedge conceded 25 runs in two overs, but it was his first match at this level.

Fast forward to Shreyas’s innings of 10 off seven balls. The newly appointed skipper was undone by Moondra. Shreyas played away from his body and could not cope with the extra bounce and inward movement. He has returned to the shortest format in international cricket after a gap of almost three years and, unlike in the IPL, this is not a format where conditions always favour the batters.

As for the game itself, India flirted with a batting implosion when Ishan Kishan was run out at 35/4. Tilak Varma and Axar Patel added 39 runs for the fifth wicket, but the latter was dismissed at the wrong time.

Tilak and Shivam Dube then took the score to 109 before Dube mistimed a shot off left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys and was caught in the deep. Shedge walked out carrying the reputation of being a finisher in domestic cricket. Before long, however, Tilak departed after scoring 55 off 46 balls. Shedge was dismissed for one off five balls while trying to force the pace. Harshit Rana’s 21 off 10 balls raised hopes, but Ireland held their nerve to pull off a humdinger.

The count has now risen to three whitewashes in less than three years across two formats. Under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy, this team had not lost a bilateral T20I series over the previous two years.

Brief scores: Ireland 154/8 (Harry Tector 53; Prince Yadav 3/22, Shivam Dube 2/25) beat India 153/9 (Tilak Varma 55; Matt Hollard 3/26, Jai Moondra 3/32) by 1 run.

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