India vs Ireland: Revisiting the Irishmen's cricketing journey since becoming Full Member

It’s not often that India and Ireland lock horns on the cricketing field. Ever since Trent Johnston’s boys shocked Pakistan in what was their first big impression at the elite level, the Men in Blue have played Ireland only a handful of times, all the matches taking place away from home. After touring for a one-off ODI in 2007 right after a disastrous ODI World Cup campaign, India’s next trip to Ireland would come more than a decade later in 2018, taking place around the same time as the tour of England. It would be a similar case four years later, with the Indian team once again adding a couple of matches in Ireland on the side while preparing to face England across formats. Three meetings between the two teams took place in ICC events, including in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. India, though, have won each of the three ODIs and five T20Is against Ireland. And though they are fielding a second-string team led by the returning Jasprit Bumrah, they will be backing themselves to maintain that unblemished record in the three-match T20I series that starts on Friday, with all three games taking place at the Malahide Cricket Club Ground in Dublin. Preview | Bumrah's return, audition of IPL stars in focus in India's tour of Ireland Ahead of the series opener, we take a look at some of the key moments in Ireland’s cricketing journey in recent years, starting with their promotion to Full Member status: Ireland promoted to Test status Ireland and Afghanistan became the newest entrants to the Test club, gaining eligibility to play red-ball cricket in the international arena less than a decade ago in 2017, a decade since their famous triumph over Pakistan in Kingston. It was thus fitting that their first opponents in the format would be that very side. Pakistan rode on half-centuries from Faheem Ashraf (83) and Asad Shafiq (62) to declare on 310/9 after Ireland won the toss and elected to field in Malahide in the summer of 2018. London-born pacer Tim Murtagh making an early impression with figures of 4/45. The hosts, though were shot out for a lowly 130 in reply, with Kevin O’Brien top-scoring with 40, resulting in them having to follow-on.

#OnThisDay in 2018, Kevin O’Brien became Ireland’s first Test centurion 🌟

He hit a glorious 118 against Pakistan in Dublin. Watch the moment 📽️ pic.twitter.com/x7lJdltWrs

— ICC (@ICC) May 14, 2021

Their second essay turned out to be an entirely different affair though, with O’Brien smashing the first-ever Test century by an Irish batter in their very first match, guiding the hosts to a respectable 339, and giving the bowling unit a fighting chance with a target of 160. And Ireland did give Pakistan a scare in their chase, reducing them to 14/3 at one point before Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam came to the rescue. Though they were vanquished in the end, by a margin of five wickets, this game proved to be a defining moment in Irish cricket right up there with the victory in 2007 as well as their triumph over England in Bengaluru in the 2011 World Cup. Giving England a scare at the home of cricket Ireland’s next opponents in the red-ball format would be Afghanistan in Dehradun 2019, where the Asghar Afghan-led side would register a historic seven-wicket win at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium to collect their maiden win in the format. After the disappointment of missing out on the ICC ODI World Cup for the first time in 2019 since making three consecutive appearances, Ireland shifted their attention to the one-off Test against England at Lord’s, which was a precursor to the Ashes. In what surely is one of their most cherished moments on the cricketing field, Ireland managed to bowl England out for a paltry 85 in the first innings with local lad Murtagh, who had shone in the maiden Test against Pakistan, playing wrecker-in-chief with a haul of 5/13. Ireland, in reply, managed to collect a 122-run first innings lead thanks to Andy Balbirnie’s fighting 55. [caption id=“attachment_13008472” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] London-born seamer Tim Murtagh bowled one of the greatest spells in Irish cricketing history, bowling England out for 83 at Lord’s in 2019 with figures of 5/13. Reuters[/caption] It all went downhill from there however, as England managed to post 303 in their second outing with left-arm spinner Jack Leach opening the batting and smashing 92. Ireland then suffered the ignominy of getting bundled out for 38 in the face of some fast-and-furious spells from Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes, crashing to a 143-run loss. They two sides would meet again in a one-off Test before this year’s Ashes, with England pulling off a 10-wicket victory inside three days though to their credit, Ireland did manage to post 362 in their second outing to bury the horror of getting bundled out for less than 50 five years ago. Their only Test series involving more than one match came in the tour of Sri Lanka in April this year, with the hosts winning both Tests by an innings. The standout moment in the series though, was Ireland nearly breaching a score of 500 in the second Test. Declining performances in ICC events Ireland’s performances since their maiden Test five years ago aren’t too convincing — they would go on to lose all seven Test matches to date, win 18 and lose 34 in 58 ODIs and win 38 and lose 50 in 91 T20Is. While they’ve managed to retain interest across formats with the odd moment of brilliance, the most famous of which would’ve been their 2-1 ODI series victory over the West Indies in their 2021-22 tour of the United States and the Caribbean, their declining standards when it comes to the World Cups in both formats have been a cause for concern. After missing out on the 2019 ODI World Cup, Ireland failed to advance to the Super 12s in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE, failing to secure a top-two finish in the group stage despite starting their campaign with a win. They were relatively better in the next edition of the tournament that took place the following year in Australia; not only did they manage to advance to the Super 12s, defeating West Indies along the way, but they managed to defeat their much-loathed neighbours England in yet another World Cup contest, winning by five runs (DLS Method) in a rain-affected encounter in Melbourne. They would eventually finish fifth in Group 1 with a win in five outings. What would’ve really hurt Irish cricket though, was yet another failure in an ODI World Cup qualifying campaign in Zimbabwe in July, where they failed to make the Super Six stage after losing three out of four Group Stage fixtures and eventually facing Nepal in a seventh-place playoff, which they ended up winning. Ireland, though would make up for the disappointing campaign by clinching their place in next year’s T20 World Cup, finishing in the top two in the European Qualifier. They will be hoping the three T20Is against India mark the beginning of a new chapter.