Culprits of defeat: Dropped catches, conceded runs and top order failure, 3 reasons due to which India suffered a shameful defeat.

New Delhi. Whenever teams like India and Ireland face each other on the cricket field, India always has the upper hand on paper. But T20 cricket is a game of uncertainties, and here even a small mistake can change the entire match. A similar scene was seen in the first T20 match played between India and Ireland, where host Ireland performed brilliantly and defeated Team India by 34 runs. Chasing the target of 183 runs, the Indian team collapsed for 148 runs only. There was no single reason behind this shameful defeat, rather the Indian team looked completely derailed in all three departments – bowling, fielding and batting.

Till the 15th over of the match, the position of the Indian team was looking strong. Ireland’s score was 118 runs for 5 wickets and it seemed that the Indian bowlers would restrict the opposition team to a modest score. But the real story started after this. Captain Shreyas Iyer handed the ball to Washington Sundar in the 16th over as per the strategy. This was Sundar’s only over of the match, and the Irish batsmen took full advantage of this opportunity and scored 19 runs from his over.

Indian fans had not yet recovered from the shock that fast bowler Prasidh Krishna brought in the 17th over. In this over, Ireland’s Gareth Delany destroyed the Indian bowling attack. Taking advantage of Krishna’s line-length, Delaney hit three consecutive sixes on the last three balls of the over. Prasidh Krishna gave away a total of 27 runs in this one over. Within these two overs (16th and 17th), India spent a total of 46 runs, due to which Ireland, which was struggling at 118 runs, suddenly reached 164 runs. This momentum gave Ireland a mental edge, which proved decisive in the end.

There is a saying that ‘catch the catch, win the match’, but in this match the Indian fielders completely forgot this basic mantra. India’s very poor and sluggish fielding gave Ireland’s batsmen opportunities to play freely. The Indian team dropped not one or two, but three very important catches during the match. First of all, Shivam Dubey dropped the catch of Tim Tector. After this, Abhishek Sharma took a very easy catch of Gareth Delaney in the air. The remaining task was completed by Washington Sundar when he dropped the catch of Lorcan Tucker.

The Irish batsmen fully respected these gifts of life given to them in cricket. Taking advantage of this gift of life, Lorcan Tucker played a brilliant half-century of 50 runs, which strengthened Ireland’s score. At the same time, after missing the catch, Delaney became more aggressive and played a quick inning of 49 runs in just a few balls. If these catches had been caught on time, perhaps the Irish team would not have been able to cross the 150-run mark.

A strong start was expected from the Indian team chasing the challenging target of 183 runs. But the Indian top order collapsed like a house of cards. Opener Sanju Samson walked out after scoring just 5 runs. His partner Ishan Kishan also could not show the courage to stay at the crease and returned to the pavilion after scoring only 1 run. Expectations were from captain Shreyas Iyer, but he too could not bear the pressure and was out on a personal score of just 3 runs. India had lost its three big and important wickets in just 60 runs.

However, at one end, young batsman Abhishek Sharma presented a stormy batting display. Abhishek played a brilliant inning of 50 runs in just 20 balls while counter-attacking the Irish bowlers. His innings raised hopes of victory in the Indian camp, but as soon as Abhishek was out, the entire team fell apart like a pack of cards. None of the middle order and lower order batsmen appeared ready to play responsibly. The situation was such that 7 batsmen of the team could not even reach double figures. The entire Indian team was all out for just 148 runs and India had to face a crushing defeat by 34 runs.