The Indian team clinched their second consecutive victory against Ireland, showcasing an even more dominant performance in comparison to the initial T20I match. Opting to bat first, India saw a robust start from the opening combination of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad. However, the Irish bowlers responded in a sound fashion by claiming 2 wickets within a span of 3 deliveries, placing India in a dicey situation. Nevertheless, the partnership between Ruturaj and Sanju Samson had different intentions, as they meticulously crafted a 69-run alliance, firmly establishing India in a commanding position.

Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube shouldered the responsibility of adding the final flourishes, accumulating 41 runs during the concluding two overs, thereby injecting crucial momentum into the Indian team’s performance. Conversely, the Irish side encountered a shaky commencement as Prasidh Krishna swiftly made his mark with early breakthroughs through his brisk, hard length deliveries. Andrew Balbirnie emerged as the pillar of Ireland’s innings, sustaining their hopes with a series of captivating shots. Despite Mark Adair’s impressive display showcase of power hitting in the death overs, the pursuit of 185 proved futile for Ireland, arriving a tad too late.

Read More: Performance Analysis: Jasprit Bumrah’s Triumphant Return to Dominate the Pitch against Ireland – Cricket Winner

In this article, we will delve into the performance of Prasidh Krishna and Andrew Balbirnie by utilizing the pitch map and shot-type map.

Prasidh Krishna’s Commanding Spell

A small introduction to the pitch map for our new viewers. The purple dots represent the dot deliveries, the red dot represents the dismissals, the green dot represents the boundaries conceded and the blue dot is runs conceded other than boundaries.

The above pitch map are the deliveries bowled in the first two overs (left to right) of Prasidh Krishna’s spell. In this spell he conceded just 3 runs while he picked up two wickets. A quick glance of the chart gives us an idea on how Prasidh’s lines have stretched between the middle stump and outside the off stump which is the perfect channel to bowl at. He has always been a bowler who is skillful at executing the hard length deliveries, which are pitched between the good length and short length region.

He secured the initial two wickets by delivering a brisk, short-length ball that landed approximately around the 5th stump channel. This enticed the batsmen to attempt a pull shot, but the additional pace of the delivery led to a mistimed shot, resulting in the ball being caught comfortably by the fielder. He bowled much better lines in the second over thus keeping the batters on their toes.

The above pitch map are the deliveries bowled in the 3rd and 4th over (left to right) of Prasidh Krishna’s spell. He came in the latter stages of the innings and bowled the 15th and 19th over of the innings. In the former over, he relied completely on the back of the length and short length deliveries, while maintaining tight lines.

When he came back in the 19th over, the game was almost done and dusted. While he did try to bowl some hard lengths, he got better results with the yorker and low full toss deliveries. While he was slightly inaccurate with his lengths, his yorkers were absolutely pinpoint and he would hope to improve on his consistency in the death overs.

Andrew Balbirnie’s resilient innings

Andrew Balbirnie’s display highlighted a wide array of magnificent and conventional cricketing shots. Particularly impressive was his impeccable execution of the back foot pull shot, accounting for nearly 30 percent of his overall runs. Generally, batsmen tend to accumulate more runs with front foot shots, but Balbirnie’s innings stood out for the substantial portion of runs garnered through backfoot play, amounting to approximately 52 percent of his total runs.

He also showed prowess in the sweep shot with close to 20 percent of his runs accumulated with this shot. Likewise, his adept flick shots didn’t go unnoticed, contributing to 20 percent of his total runs scored.

It was all the way back in the month of September of 2022 when Jasprit Bumrah delivered a toe-crushing yorker to Aaron Finch and Steve Smith, with the latter tumbling off his feet. After enduring a strenuous 11 months of surgeries, rehabilitation, and unceasing practice, Jasprit Bumrah successfully made his way back into the cricketing arena. Amidst considerable chatter and speculation surrounding his resurgence, fueled by the extended hiatus, doubts began to emerge regarding his ability to emulate his previous form.

But Bumrah shrugged off all the speculations and delivered a stellar performance with the ball. While he didn’t overload on his pace, it is the unwavering and consistent lines that remained a constant feature in his bowling. He started of his first delivery by conceding a boundary which created a sense of disappointment among the Indian spectators. But he roared back in the 2nd delivery to scalp the former Irish captain. He took this up a notch by removing Lorcan Tucker, albeit due to a poor shot from the batter and these were significant body blows for Ireland.

His first over was filled with mixed emotions, starting off on a wrong foot but wrapped it up on a high. In this article, we will introspect on Bumrah’s nagging lines and lengths while also delving into his skillful variations.

Read more: The Leading Bowling Performers Across Different Match Phases in LPL: A Statistical Take – Cricket Winner

The resurgence of Jasprit Bumrah

A small introduction to the pitch map for our new viewers. The purple dots represent the dot deliveries, the red dot represents the dismissals, the green dot represents the boundaries conceded and the blue dot is runs conceded other than boundaries.

Bumrah began his first ball by drifting it down the leg side and the batter helped it down to fine leg for a boundary. It didn’t take long for the bowler to get back his rhythm as he changed his line and bowled a seam in delivery jagging off a good length. This was too good for Andrew Balbirnie as it brushed the inside half of his blade and knocked off the bails. His variations in his lines and lengths were a treat to the eyes as he welcomed the new batter with an in swinging yorker on the middle stump.

He immediately varied his length and bowled a good length delivery outside the off stump which tempted the batsman to play at it, ultimately leading to his dismissal. Bumrah experienced a truly dream-like beginning and it was the perfect start.

Throughout his spells, Bumrah placed significant emphasis on changing his delivery lengths, while mostly maintaining a line that stretched from the middle stump to the outside of the off stump. He bowled around 38 percent of his deliveries in the good length region and close to 42 percent of his deliveries were bowled in order to attack the stump. While he did err in his lengths in his 3rd over, he bowled a phenomenal 19th over by deceiving the batter with his slower deliveries and conceded only 1 run.

With respect to his variations, 25 percent of the deliveries he bowled were off cutters and due to his flawless execution of these deliveries, he conceded only a singular run.

Bumrah’s comeback was distinguished by his deft control over his lines, lengths, and variations, showcasing his capacity to overcome obstacles and once again dazzle on the cricket field. The Indian squad will hope that Bumrah can maintain his consistent bowling form and be ready for the upcoming international competitions.

India vs Ireland 2nd T20I: Deepak Hooda scored his maiden T20I hundred. Sanju Samson provided international cricket with its most memorable genuine look at his rich gifts. Paul Stirling reminded the IPL that he exists. Andy Balbirnie trudged and connected frequently enough to make up for the times he slogged and missed. Then Harry Tector, George Dockrell and Mark Adair showed that Ireland have hitting ability right down their line-up.

It boiled down to one ball and six to get, in a chase of 226.

Umran Malik had held Ireland to 11 off the initial five balls of this last over, and four of those runs had fallen off an edge. He had ensured a tough debut, delivering simply the one over in a rain-shortened game, and had yielded 31 in his initial three overs. Not awful at all considering the scoring rate of this match, yet all that matters is this one final ball.

Malik bowled it wide of off stump and Adair cut through cover-point, however he was unable to find the elevation he expected to transform this fearsome chase into a party like Bengaluru or Nelson or Southampton. India wrapped up the series 2-0, however this was the kind of game that was expected to have wider implications in terms of cricket’s scheduling and economic flows. Will it? Nobody knows for sure, but In any case, what a game.

Malahide has been one of the freest-scoring grounds in world cricket of late. Before today, its usual run rate of 9.12 had put it 6th among the 69 grounds that have facilitated at least five T20Is since the starting of 2018. By the end of Sunday’s dreamlike slugfest, Malahide had climbed to third on the list, crossing Hamilton, Centurion and Mount Maunganui.

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Samson and Hooda flaunt India’s bench strength

Hooda was on the seat all through the last T20I series India played, and Samson wasn’t even in the squad. This was regardless of India resting some of their standard top-order batters. Hooda got his opportunity in this series because Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer were inaccessible, and Samson came into the side for this game because Ruturaj Gaikwad was out with a calf niggle.

Neither looked anything like a fringe player today during a partnership of 176 in only 87 balls – the highest for the second wicket in all T20Is and India’s highest for any wicket. It was just more proof of India’s sheer depth of assets.

One needs to be a unique player encountering an exceptional day to outscore Samson as well as better him for eye-getting strokeplay, and Hooda did both. The forays down the pitch to utilise his long levers to hit long and straight were amazing, yet surprisingly better was his ruthless pulling and snaring of anything short. His maiden T20I fifty came off 27 balls, and his hundred off 55.

Ireland hit back after they dismissed the Hooda-Samson stand, with Young and Adair yielding only 13 off the last two overs while taking three wickets. As it ended up, this small scale rebound, and Hooda’s stoppage, would almost proceed to have a result-changing impact.

Ireland give India serious alarm

Stirling’s T20I record against top restrictions – he had passed 20 just a single time in 17 innings against the conventional top eight groups – is one potential purpose for his never having highlighted in the IPL, yet when he gets rolling, even the best can find him hard to stop. Bhuvneshwar Kumar found this out as Stirling pulled, slapped and whipped him for 6, 4, 4, 4 off the last four bundles of his first over. 

The following nine balls brought no limits, and Ireland abruptly required 102 off the last 48 balls. Tector, their half-centurion in the principal T20I, was in the centre.

Dockrell hit the main ball he looked for a back to front six over the covers, and that started a stage when Ireland hit three sixes and four fours in about 16 balls to bring the conditions down to 38 off 18. Bhuvneshwar dismissed Tector in the eighteenth over, yet that didn’t stop Ireland either, as Adair kept their limit rush going.

It descended, eventually, to one ball, and one hit. On one more day, Adair might have associated all the more pleasantly. On this one, Malik and India won. India 225 for 7 (Hooda 104, Samson 77, Adair 3-42) beat Ireland 221 for 5 (Balbirnie 60, Stirling 40, Tector 39, Dockrell 34*, Bishnoi 1-41) by four runs.