Gaikwad, Samson and Rinku set up India's series-clinching win

India's batters got a decent run in the second T20I against Ireland in Dublin as they notched up a highly competitive 185 after being put into bat first before the bowlers closed out a commanding, series-clinching 33-run victory. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson set the foundations of the win with a brisk 71-run stand before Rinku Singh provided the thrust at the death with a quickfire 38.

The early faceoff and the consolidation

Ireland opted to bowl after winning the toss and marginally edged the early exchanges. India went from 26/0 to 34/2 as Craig Young and Barry McCarthy dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma in quick succession. Only one boundary came from the final 12 balls of the PowerPlay as India got to 47 at the end of six overs.

Gaikwad scored only 21 off his first 19 balls but hit fours off each of the next three balls he faced to give the innings some impetus. Samson then put India's innings firmly back in control with an 18-run takedown off Joshua Little, hitting a troika of boundaries through the off-side and swivel-pulling the compensation ball for six. Samson was eventually dismissed for a 26-ball 40, bowled off a thick inside edge to the bowling of Benjamin White.

A second T20I fifty for Gaikwad

Where Samson missed out on a half-century, there was no slip-up in the face of a milestone for Gaikwad, who got to his second 50 in T20Is by sweeping White for boundary. He helped himself to a six in the same over before a miscue in the following over saw him depart for a 43-ball 58.

Rinku's charge at the death

When Gaikwad fell in the 16th over, India's innings suddenly went off the rails with the three overs leading up to the final two bringing only 14 runs. Rinku Singh was at the heart of that go-slow, trudging to a run-a-ball 15. Ireland's best bowler until then, McCarthy, came up for severe punishment. Rinku sliced a wide delivery past backward point for four and then launched the next delivery over long-on for six. An under-pressure McCarthy doled out two wides and then another slot ball that Rinku carved over extra cover for six.

Rinku found a third six in the final over bowled by Mark Adair before falling off the penultimate ball for a 21-ball 38. Shivam Dube hit two sixes off his own to give India a 42-run swing off the final 12 deliveries.

Prasidh breaks the back of the chase in the PowerPlay

India rode on the momentum from the final part of their chase with Prasidh Krishna dismissing both Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker in his first over with the short ball. Harry Tector failed to read a Ravi Bishnoi googly and was clean bowled. After managing just 31/3 in the PowerPlay, they were always behind the eight ball.

Balbirnie keeps fading hopes alive; Bumrah finishes with two

At the 10-over mark of the chase, Ireland's run-rate was a shade over a run a ball. Andrew Balbirnie had 30 of those runs off 29 balls. He launched Shivam Dube for a pair of sixes and slogged Bishnoi for a boundary to bring up a 39-ball half-century. After being reprieved by a Gaikwad drop, Balbirnie clubbed both Prasidh and Arshdeep Singh for two more sixes before the latter had him edge a wide and full delivery. When Balbirnie fell for 72 (51), Ireland needed 63 runs of 26 balls, a gap they never came close to bridging. India's captain Jasprit Bumrah underscored his bright return to international cricket by taking two more wickets to close out the win.

Brief scores: India 185/5 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 58, Sanju Samson 40; Barry McCarthy 2-36) beat Ireland 152/8 in 20 overs (Andred Balbirnie 72; Jasprit Bumrah 2-15, Prasidh Krishna 2-29) by 33 runs.