Ireland Vs India, 2nd T20I, Highlights: Men In Blue maul Ireland by 143 runs, clinch series

Dublin, June 29: Continuing their tune-up for the England tour, India on Friday (June 29) registered another win and crushed minnows Ireland by whopping 143 runs and sealed the two-match T20I series 2-0.

Chasing a target of 214 the entire Ireland team hardly showed any resistance and were bundled out for a mere 70 runs in 12.3 overs.

Kuldeep Yadav (3/16) and Yuzvendra Chahal (3/21) once again tormented the hosts' batsmen with their spin and secured another easy win for the visitors. Indian bowlers were ruthless in their approach from the very first over when Umesh Yadav (2/19) struck on the very second ball of the Irish innings.

Man of the Series in India's last five T20I series/tournaments:

NZ, 2017 - Jasprit Bumrah
SL, 2017 - Jaydev Unadkat
SA, 2018 - Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Nidahas, 2018 - Washington Sundar
IRE, 2018 - Yuzvendra Chahal#IREvIND

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) June 29, 2018

Debutant Siddharth Kaul (1/4) and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (1/10) also bagged a wicket each as Men In Blue recorded their second largest win in T20Is, in terms of run margin.

It was India's biggest victory margin (by runs) as they improved on the 93-run win over Sri Lanka at Cuttack in 2017. It was also the joint second-highest margin (by runs) in T20Is with Pakistan 143-run win over West Indies in Karachi earlier this year and second to 172 runs by Sri Lanka against Kenya in 2007.

It was also the lowest total against India in T20I cricket, with Ireland sinking lower than England's 80 at Colombo in 2012.

Ireland, who could only manage to score what KL Rahul alone scored, recorded their second lowest ever total.

Some brilliant bowling from the Indian side made light work of the Irish line-up who, after losing early wickets, never looked to have a serious intent of chasing down this total.

#TeamIndia clinch the two match T20I series 2-0.#IREvIND pic.twitter.com/MaUa8lUVS8

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 29, 2018

India win the series 2-0 and in complete comfort, they will face a much sterner test against England in the coming weeks.

For Ireland though, they relish the chance to compete with teams at the top of this format and they will certainly learn from these experiences and aim to exploit what they have learnt against lower-ranked sides.

Getting to be a rout. Ignoring all the homilies being bandied around, very disappointing from Ireland

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) June 29, 2018

Earlier, KL Rahul and Suresh Raina struck attacking half-centuries as visitors posted a huge 213 for four. Barring the odd hiccup, it was another dominant display from the Indian batsmen as Rahul (70) and Raina (69) bossed the Irish bowling to put on 106 runs off 57 balls for the second wicket.

This was after the hosts won the toss and opted to field once again. They made one change and brought in the experienced William Porterfield. Keeping the England T20I series in mind, India made four rotations.

143 runs - India register joint-second biggest victory in terms of runs in T20I history. Before today, they had never won by more than 100 runs. #IrevInd

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) June 29, 2018

Siddarth Kaul made his T20I debut while Umesh Yadav, Dinesh Karthik and Rahul were included in the playing eleven. Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and MS Dhoni were rested.

Proud moment for young @sidkaul22 as he receives his #TeamIndia cap from @msdhoni.#IREvIND pic.twitter.com/bUNeVnTUgc

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 29, 2018

While the changes were all like-for-like, India opted for permutations in their batting order. Skipper Virat Kohli (9), out for a duck in the first game, opened the innings with Rahul. Again though, he fell cheaply, out caught off a skier at fine leg as George Dockrell held on impressively.

Rahul then took centre-stage and smacked the Irish bowling to all parts of the ground.

Overall, he hit three fours and four long sixes during his 36-ball stay, replicating his purple-rich form from the 2018 Indian Premier League season. He brought up his 4th T20I half-century off 28 balls and then accelerated further thereafter as India crossed the 100-mark in the 10th over and looked comfortably set for another 200-plus total.

200+ totals in T20Is ... most times
11 - South Africa/INDIA
10 - Australia
7 - England/Sri Lanka#IrevInd

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) June 29, 2018

However, just as Rahul was approaching his century, he played a habitual false stroke and was dismissed. Kevin O'Brien (3-40) was the partnership breaker for Ireland, striking off his first delivery in the 13th over, accepting a simple return catch. It became a double-blow as Rohit Sharma (0) was caught at backward point two balls later, a shot that can be described lazy at best.

It deprived Dinesh Karthik of an opportunity to bat, but more importantly, the two wickets also sucked out momentum off the Indian innings. Raina though countered with some attacking strokes and brought up his fifth T20I half-century off 34 balls.

Sadly, Ireland not in the game at all......

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) June 29, 2018

Overall, he hit five fours and three sixes and lifted India in the latter half of the innings, adding 41 runs with Manish Pandey (21 not out off 20 balls) for the fourth wicket.

He fell to O'Brien too, becoming his third wicket on the day as India were placed at 169-4 in the 18th over.

Hardik Pandya (32 not out) had other plans though, and he played a 9-ball blitzkrieg knock, which included four towering sixes at the small Malahide Cricket Club ground.

Thanks to his efforts, wherein O'Brien's final over of the Indian innings was taken for 21 runs, India managed to surpass their total from Wednesday.

(With inputs from PTI)