Ireland 182 for 9 (Tucker 50, Delany 49, Rana 3-24) beat India 148 (Abhishek 49, Hollard 3-28, Moondra 2-26) by 34 runs

Ireland picked up their first ever win in international cricket over India. The T20 world champions were humbled in Belfast, a place far removed from the comforts they've enjoyed recently. The boundaries were bigger. The pitch had help for fast bowlers. There were no impact players. And that was just too many problems to solve.

This game arrived with hope that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will make his international debut. He did not, which left a vacuum and Ireland decided to fill it. Lorcan Tucker scored a resilient half-century to put up 183 on the board and a pair of debutant fast bowlers Matt Hollard and Jai Moondra helped defend it.

Rana strikes over and over

Even in the face of visible seam and swing for fast bowlers in Belfast, Harshit Rana would not budge from his methods. He was happy to go into the pitch, and he struck. He was keen to explore the blockhole, even though the powerplay was still on. Eventually he unfurled his special skill. A slower ball that Tucker absolutely nailed but it didn't matter because it had settled in the hands of a fielder. Rana was making his return to the competitive game after four months on the sidelines with a knee injury. He picked up 3 for 24 but more than that he highlighted why India like him in their team. He makes things happen.

Tucker steps up

With Ireland at 36 for 3 at the end of the powerplay, their captain set his stall out to bat the full 20 overs. Tucker was 5 off 11 and never once showed the pressure that comes with playing an innings like that; an innings where he wasn't even looking for shots. It was more important that he stayed out there for as long as possible. And when Gareth Delany (49 off 32) gave him the confidence that the other end can hold its own, he started to open up. Tucker brought up his fifty off 35 balls. He is the first player in men's T20Is to score a half-century in each of his first three games as skipper.

Front-loading problems

Nine hundred and thirty six days since he last played a game in the shortest format, Shreyas Iyer pulled on the India blues and this time it came with the armband. He had the toss go his way and recognising the seam, swing and bounce on offer for the fast bowlers in Belfast. He also had Rana and Arshdeep Singh bowl right through the powerplay. But that bit of frontloading had an adverse effect later. At the death, India had to turn to a spinner - Washington Sundar gave away 19 runs bowling the 16th over - and a man having a bad day - Prasidh Krishna gave away 27 runs in the 17th over and finished with figures of 0 for 57 to follow 0 for 68 from his last T20I three years ago. Axar Patel and Arshdeep bailed Iyer out as India conceded only 18 off the last 18 balls.

Abhishek on song

Once again, Abhishek Sharma showcased just how hard he is to bowl at partly because of how good he is at finding boundaries on the off side. He gets power into those shots, power like the way others get it into slogs on the leg side. Six of his nine boundaries came on the off side with Ireland guilty of feeding his strength. When they redressed it though - shifting their line straighter - they had him caught at deep midwicket for 49 off 20.

Ireland's debutants too good

Moondra had family and friends in the crowd. They had signs up that said Moondra hai toh mumkin hai which translates to when Moondra's there, there's always a chance. And so it was as the left-arm quick began his career by dismissing the player of the last T20 World Cup. Sanju Samson was bowled for 5. The other debutant, Hollard, had an even better time, brandishing three different celebrations when he took down Ishan Kishan with his second ball in T20Is and then going on to dismiss Iyer for 3.

Ireland bossed the period immediately after the powerplay, giving up just two boundaries in 27 balls. That pressure produced wickets. Tilak Varma, trying to break the boundary drought, fell to the reverse sweep which left India 90 for 5 after 10.2 overs and Ireland 70% favourites to win the game according to Cricinfo's forecaster. When Hollard dismissed Washington for 9 off 12, the result started to look like a foregone conclusion and the merits of playing him over Sooryavanshi started to look unclear.