Abhishek Sharma gave India a flying start in the run chase as he scored a brilliant 50 off just 20 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes to his name in the first T20I against Ireland. The Indian opener had a bit of a form dip in the 2026 ICC T20I World Cup and this innings would have done his confidence a world of good. Despite losing two quick wickets in the innings, he was able to maintain his composure and anchor the run chase for the Indian side. Though the side hoped for Sharma to continue his momentum, he was dismissed right after reaching the feat.
Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma opened the innings with some quickfire boundaries and they set the tone for the innings. After the wicket of Sanju Samson, it has been all about Abhishek Sharma in the powerplay and he has carried the Indian batting unit. Abhishek Sharma has been offered too much width on too many occasions throughout his innings and the bowlers have been punished accordingly. Matthew Hollard picked two big wickets in the context of the game in the form of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer
Abhishek Sharma's entertaining 20-ball half-century comes to an end! 💙🌟 While wickets kept falling at the other end, he played a blistering knock before being dismissed. 🍿 🇮🇳 - 80/4 (8)#IREvIND #T20Is #Belfast #Sportskeeda pic.twitter.com/89FEfsapa5
— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) June 26, 2026
India's middle order stumbles after a fiery start in run chase
Ireland set a decent total of 183 for the Indian side to chase and India were off to a mixed start in the powerplay as well. It didn’t exactly seem like a challenging total for the Indian side as they are a star-studded batting unit. However, other than Abhishek Sharma, there hasn’t been any real contribution from any of the batters in the side.
Sanju Samson was dismissed in the second over of the game and followed by the wicket of Samson, there were a couple of good-looking shorts from Abhishek. But it couldn’t transform into a meaningful partnership as Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed shortly after.
India will be quite disappointed with their bowling in the back end of the first innings especially with the bowling of Prasidh Krishna. The bowlers did a good job to control the flow of runs in the initial stages of the game and they conceded just 115 runs in the first 15 overs of the game. A late blitz from Gareth Delany changed the entire complexion of the game and it spoiled the plans of India. Harshit Rana was the standout bowler for the Indian side as he picked up 3 wickets from 4 overs and he gave away just 24 runs.
