Due to rain, play at Friday’s Twenty20 match at Malahide was called off early. India defeated Ireland by two runs using the DLS method.
Ireland limped to 59-6 before Barry McCarthy’s unbeaten 51 pushed the hosts to 139-7 thanks to the captain’s two wickets in the first over.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, India’s opening pair, put together 46 runs before Craig Young took two wickets in two deliveries.
When the rain started, it had India down 47-2, which was just enough to win.
Bumrah won the toss and elected to bowl first as he made his comeback from over a year out due to a back injury.
It paid off when in his first five deliveries, the paceman dismissed Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker.
As Ireland crumbled and appeared unlikely to produce a three-figure total, spinner Ravi Bishnoi also claimed two wickets.
That was made possible by a 57-run partnership for the seventh wicket between McCarthy and Curtis Campher (39).
McCarthy’s outstanding performance included four maximums, and his half-century gave the home team hope for their first victory over India.
India got off to a strong start in reply thanks to Jaiswal (24) and Gaikwad (19*) before Young, like Bumrah, claimed two wickets in his first over.
India narrowly prevailed despite the rain, which arrived to the dismay of a large crowd. The teams will now face off at the north Dublin site on Sunday.
“From where we were 10 overs into the game to get ourselves back into a position where we’re only two runs behind on DLS is a credit to our spirit,” McCarthy said.
We battled to the bitter end; if there had been one more wicket in those final few balls, Irish cricket might have had a historic day. We stood tall and fought back against one of the top teams in the world.
“I have a little bit more responsibility as the eighth person, but it was a chance for me to get a score. I had a good game and reached a respectable total.
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