Ireland vs India, 1st T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: India tour of Ireland, 2018 Venue: The Village, Dublin Date & Time: Jun 27, 04:00 PM LOCAL

India will need a winning start to their tour of the UK © Getty

And it's over: India win by 76 and go 1-0 up

Was the result ever in doubt? Perhaps the only surprise at the end was that Ireland didn't get bowled out and the only piece of drama at the end came off the final ball when Jasprit Bumrah appeared to have spit a webbing on his left hand while fielding off his own bowling. As convincing a win as you would expect given the two teams' standing in the T20 circuit.

Kuldeep: 4 for 21Chahal: 3 for 38Bumrah: 2 for 19

to go with the 97 for Rohit and 74 for Dhawan. That's that from Dublin. Catch us in a couple of days for the second of the two games! Until then, it's good bye from here. Have a great sporting week!

The wickets they keep on coming

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Meanwhile, here are the teams:

Ireland (Playing XI): Gary Wilson(c), Paul Stirling, James Shannon, Andrew Balbirnie, Simi Singh, Stuart Poynter(w), Kevin O Brien, Stuart Thompson, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(w), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

This is what Kohli had to say:

We have played the format enough, we played IPL for two months, so we don't need to practise much as we are used to it. Weather is something that we took time in getting used to. The wind is very cool so it a good change from heat back home. My neck is absolute fine, I was 70% a month ago but now I am fit and fine

Toss - Ireland elect to bowl

Understandable selection in a T20 game from Gary Wilson. See what the opposition and the pitch does and use the advantage of a target to plan your batting.

Ireland confirm that they've left out Andy McBrine and William Porterfield. Murali Kartik doesn't remember to ask Virat Kohli the same question.

Prelude

Life in Indian cricket is always a little frenetic. To that effect, the last one month (the IPL final was held on this day, a month back) has been rather quiet despite a two-day Test match in Bengaluru against Afghanistan.

Now Kohli & Co. are on the road. To the UK, where they had quite a forgettable time back in 2014. The five Tests against England beginning on August 1 are going to be the highlight but keep an eye out on those three ODIs - India and England are perhaps the two best sides heading into the World Cup year.

But before we get to that, there's a small matter of 5 T20Is to play. And it begins with a two-match series against Ireland. A good start will go a long way in getting India going on the tour.

Portentously, It's a nice and sunny day in Dublin. So far, so good!