Right then, back to the cricket grind after I completely forgot how to hold a bat after the IPL ended. So India is in England for a few T20s, ODIs and Tests and we’re going to be in the Isles till September, which is quite long to be fair. I’ll be here to cover it all and laugh at the English as they get beat up in their own turf. I’ll have to be careful though, as the lads at the office are mostly all English, and I don’t want to get in their face too much, or it won’t end well. Let’s get right into the news for now though.
India vs Ireland
For some reason, India played the Irish in two T20 games, and the result was exactly how you’d expect. I genuinely don’t know what we got from playing them, or what they got from playing us (except for humiliation). Still, if you’re unaware of how things went down, I’m here to enlighten you.
Both of India’s games against the Irishmen were played in a cute stadium called ‘The Village,’ in Ireland’s biggest city Dublin. India batted first in both of the matches, and on both occasions, we managed to score more than 200 runs on both of those occasions. In fact, Ireland’s score across both games was lower than our score across any one of the games.
In the first game at The Village, India scored 208 runs with Rohit Sharma scoring 97 and Shikhar Dhawan scoring 74. Only six batsmen had the chance to bat, and everyone except Virat Kohli got a run on the board. The Indian captain managed nowt from two balls. I don’t care if Kohli breaks every record under the sun and becomes the Indian PM, he’ll be remembered for getting out on a duck against Ireland.
Ireland made just 132 runs in their quota of twenty overs. One James Shannon was Ireland’s best batsman and made 60 off 35, whereas everyone else got bundled out for under 12. That meant that the lads lost by 76 runs.
Surely they’d have thought that they couldn’t lose by more and get humiliated in a worse manner, however, they outdid themselves. In the second game, Rahul and Raina made 70 and 69 runs respectively as India marched on to a total of 213 runs. A blinder by Hardik Pandya that saw him make 32 runs in 9 balls propelled the Indians to a strong total.
Ireland’s amazing batting lineup got knocked over in just 12 overs and made a grand total of 70 runs. KL Rahul alone made as many runs as the Irish did. To conclude, Ireland lost by 143 runs and India went on to play the English.
India vs England: T20 #1
So after destroying the Irish cricket team, India came to England to play three T20s, three ODIs, and five tests. The first Twenty-Twenty took place at Old Trafford (not the Manchester United one, as I once believed it was) on Tuesday. England batted first and my favourite Englishman Jos Buttler once again shined. Buttler made 69 runs and was the best batsman in the English innings. Jason Roy and David Wiley helped the man out with around 30 runs each.
The ‘tricky English’ conditions, as they’re known in India didn’t turn out to be tricky at all. Buttler’s Indian equivalent KL Rahul smashed a century as India chased down the total in just eighteen overs. Rohit Sharma played out a decently paced thirty as Virat Kohli still struggled to find his footing.
All in all, India beat the English again, and will most probably continue to do so for the duration of this series. What’s better is I’ll be here to cover it all!
Till next time.
