INDIA SEALED a T20 series win in Ireland as Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 58 and Rinku Singh’s explosive debut cameo eased the tourists to a 33-run victory in Dublin on Sunday.
After the loss of two early wickets, Gaikwad and Sanju Samson put on 71 to build the platform for India’s total of 185-5.
But they needed Singh’s 38 from 21 balls and an unbeaten 22 from Shivam Dube to up the strike rate as India plundered 42 runs from the final two overs.
That gave Ireland a mountain to climb but Andy Balbirnie did his best to give the home side hope with 72 from 51 balls.
However, Balbirnie was left without much support as India captain Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Ravi Bishnoi took two wickets each.
Mark Adair’s 23 from 15 balls was Ireland’s next highest scorer as they finished on 152-8.
The sides meet for the final match of the series on Wednesday.
– Updated 9.48am, 21 August: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to Andrew Balbirnie as the Irish captain; Paul Stirling is now the Irish captain.
