Lorcan Tucker, Ireland's new T20I captain, challenged his team to show the world Friday's win over India wasn't an aberration. On Sunday, they did exactly that to stun the T20 World Champions by one run to clinch a historic maiden series win against them. That Ireland managed to do so without six first-choice players made it even more special.
"I can't quite believe it, but absolutely incredible," Tucker said. "We were obviously on a massive high the other night, but I think I challenged the lads to try and, you know, fall down from those clouds, get back to the real world, and put in a performance, do their recovery yesterday [Saturday]. I think we rocked up with that same intent. I felt like we were professional, we were diligent in the work we did, and we showed that again today."
Twice in two games, Ireland successfully defended a score against a marauding batting line-up that played into Ireland's hands as they utilised the ground dimensions to their advantage, much like they did in Friday's opener. India's chase of 155 never got going as they quickly stumbled to 35 for 4, from where they were only playing catch up.
India brought the equation down to 60 off the last six, with the set Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube at the crease, but their dismissal in consecutive overs helped Ireland hold their nerve. It got a tad too close in the end, with India's equation down to 8 off 2 when Harshit Rana hit a juicy full toss down to the long-on fielder. Prince Yadav then hit his first ball in T20Is for a six, but Ireland began celebrating.
"It felt like we were able to close the game out," Tucker said when asked about the most pleasing aspect of their win. "I think we showed that good cricket can be simple cricket, and it doesn't always have to be that complicated, and especially when you read the conditions well, that you can be effective and you can win games of cricket."
Asked how this win would change things for Irish cricket, Tucker offered an optimistic note, considering only three months ago they returned from the T20 World Cup in India with just one win in four games, against Oman.
"Yeah. Sometimes it feels like we play in the shadows of international cricket, but I think we will be front page news after this, and that will be so, it's absolutely amazing," he said. "We have a lot of lads there who have very few caps between them, but I think they just showed that they do the work in the background, they know their own games well. Even when they come to the big stage like this, they can show up and they can perform, and we can beat the world's best.
"It's a great time to be a professional cricketer in Ireland, and even for all those kids that came to watch today, watched on TV, we hope we've given them something to strive for."