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Team India endured a shocking defeat to Ireland in the opening game of the two-match T20I series on Friday, June 27 at the Stormont in Belfast. The Shreyas Iyer-led side failed to chase the 183-run target in the second innings as the Men in Blue lost the game by 34 runs.
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Abhishek Sharma reflects on India's loss to Ireland
Despite India's underwhelming performance with the bat, star opener Abhishek Sharma played a fine knock of 50 runs off just 20 balls against the Irish side. It turned out to be his eleventh half-century in the T20I format. Even after Abhishek's heroics, Indian team could not chase the target before being bundled out on just 148 runs.
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After the game, the star left-handed batter noted the key reason behind the shocking loss, saying that the reigning T20 champions could not find a moment to adapt as per the situation and conditions, which turned out to be the key-factor behind the defeat.
"I feel as a dominating team, you have to adapt really quick and that’s what we were trying today, but unfortunately it didn’t happen," said Abhishek Sharma at the post-match press conference.
Next challenge for India
After enduring a tough start to the series, Sheryas Iyer-led side will aim to bounce back strongly with a win to draw the series 1-1. The Men in Blue will lock against the Irish team in the second T20I on Sunday, June 28 at the Stormont Cricket Ground in Belfast. The game will start at 6:00 PM IST. Currently, Ireland leads the two-game series by 1-0.
It will be interesting to see if Shreyas Iyer can lead from the front to draw his maiden series as a captain. If the team ends up in the losing side, it would be a big setback ahead of the big five-game T20I series against Ireland which will be a testing assignment for Iyer as a skipper.
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