Malahide: Express pace was the
reason India skipper Hardik Pandya asked Umran Malik to bowl the final over of
the second T20 International against Ireland here.
Ireland took the chase of 226
to the last over but fell short by four runs as Umran defended 17 runs in the
last over on Tuesday.
"Not worried to be
honest. Wanted to keep pressure out of my equation, wanted to be in the
present. I backed Umran since he has pace. With his pace, it's difficult for
people to hit," Hardik said, explaining the rationale behind giving Umran
the crucial final over.
Deepak Hooda hit a blistering
maiden century as India survived a scare before prevailing over their less
fancied opponents in a nail-bitting finish.
"I think we've come to
play a game of cricket, so Ireland were going to show us what they have. Credit
to them, they played amazing shots. At the same point of time, credit to our
bowlers to cross the line.
"The crowd was amazing.
Their favourites boys were Dinesh and Sanju, great to see them enjoy them. Good
for us to experience cricket in this part of the world too. Grateful to the
fans," Hardik said to loud cheers.
Set an imposing target,
Ireland showed a lot of heart and nearly pulled off what would have been a
memorable victory.
"We are all pretty good, we did a lot of good stuff with the bat. We wanted to express and we did that. Bitterly disappointed, a bitter pill to swallow," Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie said after the match. (Agenices)
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