India looked to start their long English summer on a positive note as they took on Ireland in the first T20 match at the Malahide Cricket Club Ground, Dublin on Wednesday. Winning the toss, Ireland invited India to bat first. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan led the Indian batting lineup, adding to the scorecard. Skipper Virat Kohli failed to get off the mark.


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Highlights and score here:


-- Kohli sent Bumrah to deliver the final over with Ireland requiring 80 runs from it to win. Bumrah gave Ireland just 3 runs. Ireland's final score is 132/9. India win by 76 runs


-- Bhuvneshwar back in action in the last but one over of the match. Both Rankin and Chase managed to rotate strike scoring 3 runs in the over. Ireland 129/9 after 19 overs


-- Bumrah delivers a maiden wicket. Ireland 126/9 after 18 overs


-- Dockrell bowled by Bumrah after scoring 9 off six balls. Ireland 126/9 after 17.1 overs


-- Pandya gives just 3 runs in the crucial over. Ireland require 83 runs from 18 balls. Ireland 126/8 after 17 overs


-- Dockrell got off the mark with a six over long-off. And then came another wicket for Yadav, as he dismissed Poynter after scoring 7 off 9 balls. Ireland 123/8 after 16 overs


-- Kuldeep Yadav claims his third wicket. Thompson caught by Pandya after scoring 12 off 8 balls. Ireland 114/7 after 15.1 overs


-- Pandya back in action replacing Chahal. Thompon hit a four after rotating strike with Poynter. After end of 15 overs, Ireland require 95 runs from 30 balls. Ireland 114/6 after 15 overs


-- Ireland finally manage to cross the 100 mark as Kuldeep Yadav delivers another relatively economical over, giving out 8 runs. Ireland 104/6 after 14 overs


-- O'Brien hit a six straight over Chahal's head on the first delivery, but got dismissed soon. He was caught by Dhawan, scoring 10 off 5 balls. And that's not all, Chahal also sent Wilson back to the pavilion in the next delivery. Stumped by Dhoni, he scored 5 off 9 balls. Stuart Poynter came in to bat. Ireland 96/6 after 13 overs


-- Kevin O'Brien came in to bat as Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Shannon on 60 off 35 balls. O'Brien got off the mark with a single on the last ball of the over. Ireland 88/4 after 12 overs


-- Shannon started the over hitting a six, but couldn't gather much in the rest of it.Wilson got off the mark with a single. Ireland 83/3 after 11 overs


-- Simi Singh sent back to pavilion, caught by Virat Kohli to give Kuldeep Yadav his first wicket of the match. Yadav delivered a maiden wicket. Ireland 72/3 after 10 overs


-- Shannon hit a six off Chahal, and in the next ball took a double to hit his maiden 50 in twenty-20 format. Ireland 72/2 after 9 overs


-- Pandya gives out 10 runs as Ireland's Simi Singh comes in to bat. Ireland 62/2 after 8 overs


-- Chahal claims the wicket of Balbirnie, stumped by Dhoni after scoring 11 runs off 14 balls. Shannon keeps the momentum going by hitting a six on the fifth ball of the over. Ireland 52/2 after 7 overs


-- Bhuvneshwar delivers a relatively economical over for India, giving out just a single boundary. Ireland 43/1 after 6 overs


-- Hardik Pandya came in in the fifth over but failed to make much mark, giving out 13 runs. Shannon hit him for a maximum on the last delivery. Ireland 36/1 after 5 overs


-- An easy catch of Shannon dropped by Rohit Sharma. Balbirnie and Shannon manage to rotate strike while the latter hit a four. Ireland 23/1 after 4 overs


-- A dull over by Kumar with not much action on the field. Ireland 17/1 after 3 overs


-- Ireland lose Stirling, caught by Kuldeep Yadav off Jaspreet Bumrah. Balbirnie later hit two 4s off Bumrah. Ireland 13/1 after 2 overs


-- Bhuvneshwar Kumar leads Indian bowling attack as Stirling and Shannon open for Ireland. Shannon was dropped on the fourth delivery by Hardik Pandya. Ireland 3/0 after 1 over


-- Pandya hit a six off the final ball as India score 208/5 at the end of 20 overs.


-- The final over proves to be a bliss for Ireland as skipper Virat Kohli goes for a duck, caught by Thompson off Chase. India 202/5 after 19.5 overs


-- Sharma fails to hit a century, bowled by Chase at 97 off 61 balls. India 202/4 in 19.3 overs


-- Dhoni caught by Thompson off Chase, scores 11 runs in 5 balls. India 202/3 in 19.2 overs


-- Sharma stand at 96 as Dhoni gets off the mark with a boundary, and later hit a six off Rankin. India 201/2 after 19 overs


-- Sharma goes for a maximum again, reaching 94 while Raina added singles. Though Chase gave few extras, but claimed the wicket of Raina. India 187/2 after 18 overs


-- Raina came in to bat and got off the mark with two back-to-back boundaries. Sharma added with a four towards the end of Thompson's over. India 174/1 after 17 overs


-- A lifesaver for Sharma again, an easy catch dropped on the third ball of O'Brien's over. But Dhawan was sent back to the pavilion on the last ball of the over, caught by Thompson. India 160/1 after 16 overs


-- Dhawan started the over with a six over square leg off Dockrell. He hit another one on the fifth ball. Sharma, however, had a narrow escape as he was dropped while attempting a maximum. India 148/0 after 15 overs


-- Sharma shines yet again as he hit two consecutive fours off Stirling in the last two deliveries of the over. India 133/0 after 14 overs


-- The highlight of the over was a six, flat over midwicket, by Sharma off O-Brien. Dhawan and Sharma again managed to rotate strike. India 122/0 after 13 overs


-- A dull over for India as Dhawan and Sharma manage to just rotate strike gathering singles. India stand at 111/0 after 12 overs


-- Sixes are coming thick and fast now. Dockrell too gets a taste of Indian batting as Dhawan reaches his fifty sending a Dickrell delivery over deep midwicket for a six. India 106/0 after 11 overs


-- Boyd Rankin takes the ball. But Rohit is well set and hits him for a six over extra cover. India 94/0 after 10 overs 


-- Dockrell gets to bowl the ninth over for Ireland. Dhawan and Rohit looking set for a big score. India 84/0 after nine overs


-- India born Simi Singh in the attack for Ireland. Concedes 12 runs including a six to Rohit. India 77/0 after eight overs


-- Dhawan and Rohit take it easy in the seventh over bowled by Dockrell. Just six runs scored. India 65/0 after seven overs  


-- Chase sends down the sixth over. Dhawan takes a blow on the helmet and also hits a six in the over. India 59/0 after six overs 


-- After five overs India are 50/0 with both Dhawan and Rohit going strong.


-- Boyd Rankin bowls the fourth over. India score nine runs. India 37/0 after four overs  


-- Stuart Thompson gets the ball and is taken to the cleaners by Dhawan who hits the bowler for two fours and a six. 17 runs in the third over. India 28/0 after three over


-- India take 10 runs off the second over bowled by Peter Chase. Rohit Sharma gets a boundary and there are 4 leg byes. India 11/0 after two over. 


-- It is a tight first over from Boyd Rankin who is bang on target, gives no room to either Rohit Sharma or Shikhar Dhawan to free their arms. India 1/0 after one over.


-- India send Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma to open the innings. Boyd Rankin has the new ball.


India and Ireland have met four times, in three ODIs (the other two during 2011 and 2015 ODI World Cups) and a T20I in 2009 during the World T20 in England, where India won by 15 runs. Ireland skipper Gary Wilson, William Porterfield and all-rounder Kevin O'Brien are the only players to have played against India.


A full strength Indian squad will be seen in action, since the tour of South Africa. Captain Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and MS Dhoni were rested for the T20 tri-series against  Sri Lanka in March. The former trio also missed the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Bangalore recently.


With the 2019 World Cup set to take place in England and Wales, the Indian limited-overs team would want to impress the selectors and keep themselves in contention for the World Cup. India will try and make most of the series to tune themselves to the English conditions for the tougher assignments ahead.


The Malahide Cricket Club is a small ground situated near the seashore so sufficient amount of wind may come in handy for the bowlers in the initial overs but the pitch condition is likely to favour the batsmen.


Squads:


India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(w), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal


Ireland: Gary Wilson(c), Paul Stirling, James Shannon, Andrew Balbirnie, S Simi Singh, Stuart Poynter(w), Kevin O Brien, Stuart Thompson, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase