Team Indian suffered a shocking loss to Ireland in the first of the two-game T20I series on Friday, June 26 at Stormont in Belfast. It was a tough loss to digest as it was the Irish side's maiden win over the Men in Blue. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer, who was leading for the first time in his international career, could not lead by example as he got out on a cheap score of three runs.
Big feat for Shivam Dube in T20Is
Despite the loss, Shivam Dube, who sparked the hopes of a mini comeback with his quick fire cameo of 25 runs off just 14 balls, managed to reach a big milestone in his T20I career with some style. The star all-rounder became the third fastest Indian player to score 1000 T20I runs in terms of least balls taken.
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While reaching the milestone, Dube surpassed Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya, who took 679 balls to complete the 1000-run mark in T20Is. Meanwhile, the star CSK player managed to complete the milestone in just 648 deliveries. It's a big feat for him, considering he bats in the lower order.
Abhishek Sharma, who scored his 11th half-century in the first T20I against Ireland, took only 528 balls to score 1000 runs in T20Is. In the second place, former India T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav took 573 balls to reach the feat in the format.
Fastest Indian batters to complete 1000 runs in T20Is:
Here is the cleaned-up table in English, sorted by fewest balls taken:
| Player Name | Balls Taken To 1,000 T20I Runs |
| Abhishek Sharma | 528 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 573 |
| Shivam Dube | 648 |
| Sanju Samson / Hardik Pandya | 679 |
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.