Ireland stepped up really well when it mattered the most to defeat India by just one run and complete a memorable 2‑0 series sweep – their first‑ever bilateral triumph over the Asian heavyweights.

Vice-captain Tilak Varma’s fighting 55 kept India in the hunt, but debutant Jai Moondra’s early strikes and disciplined death bowling ensured the hosts defended 154/8 at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Stormont on Sunday.

Harry Tector, playing in his 100th T20I game, anchored the innings with a scratchy but vital 53, while the bowlers produced a superb team performance to keep India at bay. Moondra and Matthew Hollard picked three wickets apiece.

The result ended India’s streak of 16 consecutive T20I series wins dating back to 2023, as it also marked one of the greatest weekends in Irish cricket history. Under newly appointed T20I captain Lorcan Tucker, the side missed its five first‑choice players. But Ireland showed remarkable spirit to defend totals in both games, and celebrate a famous triumph in front of a jubilant home crowd.

For India, the series defeat was a sobering reminder of the challenges outside IPL‑style batting decks and their continued struggles against left‑arm pace. Despite Varma’s resistance, the middle order faltered under pressure, leaving the T20 World Cup champions humbled.

The chase began disastrously for India as Moondra dismissed openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma for first‑ball ducks. Just like how it happened in the first game, Samson fell for a duck after he missed a flick off Moondra’s skiddy delivery and trapped lbw. On the fourth ball, Abhishek miscued a pull off Moondra’s short ball to third man.

India were rattled further as skipper Shreyas Iyer chopped onto his stumps off Moondra for 10. Ishan Kishan attempted to rebuild alongside Tilak Varma, but a mix‑up resulted in his run‑out for 12. At 39/4, India were in deep trouble, having lost four wickets inside the Powerplay for just the 13th time in T20Is. Vice-captain Varma, however, held his nerve.

He struck successive boundaries off Moondra through the leg-side and steadied the innings with a 32‑run stand with Axar Patel. Rain interruptions briefly halted play, but the duo ensured India stayed afloat, even as the asking rate hovered above eight runs per over.

Once the game resumed, Matthew Hollard broke the partnership as Axar looked to steer him, but was caught by a superb Lorcan Tucker diving to his left and completed a stunning one-handed catch. Shivam Dube added some impetus into the innings with two fours, before pulling to deep square leg off Matthew Humphreys.

Amidst all this, Varma hanged around and brought up his fifty in 45 balls by hitting India’s first six of the innings – crouching low to heave Hollard over deep mid-wicket. But on the very next ball, Varma’s aim to hit a lofted drive resulted in him mistiming to extra cover, and was followed by debutant Suryansh Shedge’s pursuit of clearing the bigger side of the ground ending in a catch to deep mid-wicket.

Rana, though, had other ideas – he slammed Moondra through point for four, before muscling him over long-on for six. With 20 runs needed off the final over, Rana got a boundary by evading the keeper on the free hit. Despite Tector giving two wides, he had the last laugh by having Rana caught at long-on. Though Prince Yadav hit a last-ball six, it wasn’t enough to stop the result from going in Ireland’s favour.

Previously, at one point, Ireland were primed to get 180, especially with Tector and Ben Calitz (37) sharing a 65-run stand. But losing wickets in a hurry at the end meant Ireland could just pass 150-mark. For India, Prince was impressive on debut – hitting hard-lengths and mixing yorkers and slower balls to outsmart Irish batters in the fag end.

Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube and Harshit Rana were amongst the wickets too, while Axar Patel and second debutant Suryansh Shedge were wicketless. Put into batting first, Ireland were off to a flying start with Ross Adair smashing successive sixes off Arshdeep in the opening over. But Rana struck in the second over to remove Tim Tector, before Arshdeep dismissed Adair for 16 to peg the hosts back.

Ireland were further dented when Lorcan Tucker was caught behind off Prince, as they reached 58/3 at the halfway stage. But Tector held the innings together and found support from Calitz, as they easily got boundaries off Shedge and Axar. Their partnership threatened to take Ireland close to 180 before Dube turned the tide by removing Calitz and Gareth Delany on successive balls in the 15th over.

After a four-minute rain delay, George Dockrell’s cameo of 19 and Tector’s fighting fifty kept Ireland afloat. But Prince’s clever variations saw him dismiss Tector and Liam McCarthy in the final over, thus capping a memorable outing for him in the T20I jersey. But at the end, Ireland prevailed to script one of the greatest chapters in their cricketing history

Brief Scores: Ireland 154/8 in 20 overs (Harry Tector 53, Ben Calitz 37; Prince Yadav 3-22, Shivam Dube 2-25) beat India 153/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 55, Harshit Rana 21; Matthew Hollard 3-26, Jai Moondra 3-32) by one run.