Ireland Stuns India with Historic One-Run Victory in Second T20

Ireland’s historic weekend continued as they inflicted a first T20 series defeat on India since 2023 with a dramatic one-run victory at Stormont. After a first-ever win over India by 34 runs on Friday, Ireland stunned the world champions for a second time as Jai Moondra and Matthew Hollard starred with three wickets each. A late charge from India left the visitors requiring eight off the final two balls in a grandstand finish but Harshit Rana was caught by Tim Tector, bowled by his brother Harry, with the penultimate ball to secure a historic victory.

On Friday, a day many had expected and hoped for India’s 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to make his record-breaking international debut, Ireland stunned the T20 world champions to kickstart a historic weekend. It was a first win over India in any format in 12 attempts, and at the ninth time of asking in T20s. Then, just 24 hours later, Ireland won their first-ever match at the Women’s T20 World Cup in England. But things would get even better on Sunday.

The 4,000-strong, sold-out crowd at Stormont were left disappointed as Sooryavanshi was again on the sidelines for the second T20, and an Indian response was expected. They are, after all, world champions - and scorned ones at that. On his 100th cap, Harry Tector was Ireland’s top scorer with 53 as India restricted the hosts to 154-8. But the response was led by Moondra, who made his debut on Friday but has become the new hero of Irish cricket, as he pinned Sanju Samson lbw with the first ball of the innings. Moondra, who was born in India but moved to Dublin to study in 2021, then claimed the wickets of Abhiskek Sharma and captain Shreyas Iyer to leave India toiling on 19-3. The wickets of Ishan Kishan and Azar Patel also fell, but, led by Tilak Varma, India kept themselves in contention after a 35-minute rain delay with a required run rate of 10 heading into the final six overs. Tilak’s six from Hollard’s first ball of the 17th over put pressure back on Ireland, but he was dismissed when caught by Liam McCarthy off the following ball to leave India on 117-7. A late rally from Harshit was not enough to rescue the game for India, and Ireland held on to win by one run.

The win was made all the more remarkable given debutants Moondra and Hollard were only playing after injuries to key players like Mark Adair, Curtis Campher and Josh Little. In two wins that will go up there with the victories over England and Pakistan in years gone by, Ireland made a statement against the best-ranked side in the world.