Belfast has witnessed a magnificent Irish first on a day that India left out one of their own.
For the first time in 20 attempts, Ireland have beaten India, securing victory at Stormont by 34 runs. After all the build-up surrounding a potential debut for the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the visitors opted to delay the phenom from becoming their youngest international. Without him, this contest needed a different story. Ireland duly provided it.
Instead, it was the Irish debutants that stole the show. Matthew Hollard took three wickets while Jai Moondra, against the country of his birth, had the diaspora-filled crowd singing his name by the game’s end instead of those of the men in blue, Ireland’s new left-arm quick adding two scalps of his own.
This wasn’t the anticipated script. Ireland were missing Paul Stirling, Mark Adair, Josh Little and Curtis Campher through injury. India went strong, taking plenty of faces from their recent T20 World Cup campaign with one eye on their England tour starting next week.
READ MORE
You can always tell when India are in town, from the size of the crowd alone. The attendance of 4,200 is down on the normal capacity for their visit, but it’s still a lot more than Ireland get when blue-clad jerseys are not present. There were even a few extra peelers patrolling the place, not that anyone expected trouble.
Despite the numbers, the usual vibrancy to India’s visits was lacking. Initially, this was probably down to Vaibhav fever being sucked from the atmosphere when the teams were announced. As the day progressed, it was due to Ireland’s performance.
Ireland followed the expected script early doors, three wickets falling for just 30 runs. They did well to recover, posting 182 thanks in large part to Lorcan Tucker (50) and Gareth Delany (49). This was Tucker’s third match as Ireland captain, his first as the full-time skipper. On all three occasions, he has passed 50, his latest half-century coming off 36 balls. Lead from the front and all that.
Delany, returning from injury, fell just one run short of his own half-century, hitting three sixes as he accelerated following a sluggish start.
Still, at the mid-innings break, the feeling around the ground was one of relief at posting passable, rather than one of being in the ascendancy. Then Jai Moondra, Indian-born but playing in the green of Ireland, took a wicket with his first ball in international cricket, castling Sanju Samson. Now it was his friends in the crowd, boasting a homemade sign in his honour, making more noise than the partisan away support.
India kept hitting boundaries but Ireland chipped away with regular wickets. Hollard induced a steepling catch with his second ball. Further scalps came when hammering away at a heavy length. At 100-6, the game was in Ireland’s hands.
They did not let it slip. Matthew Humphreys overcame a hand injury to end with three wickets, including the final two. After a World Cup campaign in which fielding prowess deserted them, Ireland’s catching in the deep was almost flawless.
Outnumbered three to one, the winning roar from the home faithful was resounding. A few olés even rebounded around Stormont.
A sport that needed a good news story has one. A day that was supposed to be a coronation for India’s next superstar instead turned into Irish jubilation.
