3 Indian players who flopped in the 2nd T20I vs Ireland
Team India secured a fairly comfortable 33-run win in the second T20I against Ireland on Sunday at The Village in Malahide, Dublin, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Rinku Singh was adjudged the Player of the Match for his match-defining 21-ball 38, an innings that took India to an above-par total. The southpaw had support from Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who scored 40 and 58, respectively.
In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he recorded figures of 1/15 in his four overs. Prasidh Krishna and Ravi Bishnoi chipped in with two wickets apiece as well.
Others, however, failed to deliver in the contest. Here are three Indian players who flopped in the second T20I against Ireland.
#3 Washington Sundar
As one of only two spin-bowling all-rounders in Team India's squad for the T20I series against Ireland, Washington Sundar was always going to have a central role to play despite the conditions not really supporting his bowling.
Two games into the series, though, he hasn't looked like he belongs in the side. In the second T20I, Sundar bowled two overs that went for 19 runs. The off-spinner bowled his entire quota against right-handers, and although he conceded only two boundaries, he sent down two terrible wides and managed only two dots.
Given the composition of Ireland's batting lineup and the conditions in Dublin, Sundar doesn't have a lot going for him. However, the 23-year-old hasn't inspired much confidence at all.
#2 Shivam Dube
Team India sold Shivam Dube down the river slightly in the second T20I. They held him back when leg-spinner Ben White had 10 balls left in his spell and instead made him face nearly five overs of pace at the death. However, despite those factors, the tall southpaw could've done better.
Dube hit two sixes in his 16-ball knock, which eventually ended up fetching his side 22 runs. At one point, though, he was on nine off 13, having come to the crease in the first half of the 16th over.
The all-rounder's stint with the ball was in contrast to his batting display, in the sense that he started well before losing the plot by conceding two sixes off the last three balls of his second over.
Dube can certainly offer the Men in Blue more in both departments and wasn't at his best in the second T20I.
#1 Tilak Varma
Amid rumors of Tilak Varma making a late claim for a spot in India's Asia Cup and World Cup squads following his exploits in the preceding T20I series against West Indies, he hasn't been able to justify his potential so far in Ireland.
Tilak was strangled down the leg-side for a first-ball duck in the series opener, and his fortunes didn't get much better on Sunday. It was completely his fault this time around as he tried to clear the midwicket boundary off his second ball, only for George Dockrell to take a good catch in the deep.
Tilak has been found wanting against hard lengths a few times over the last two years, and that's an area of his game he needs to sort out in order to be successful at the highest level. The immensely talented 20-year-old will want to finish the series on a high.