Indian-born left-armer Jai Moondra got his international career off to a memorable start by becoming only the second Irish player to hit the wicket with the first ball of his T20I career.Playing his first international match against India in Belfast on Friday, Moondra struck with the first delivery of his spell in the second over of India’s innings. His victim was Sanju Samson, who was hit after pulling the ball back onto his stumps while trying to punch it through the offside.Moondra joined Matthew Humphreys as the only Irish bowlers to claim a wicket with the first ball of their T20I careerWicket off the first ball of a career T20I for Ireland
- Matthew Humphreys
- Jai Moondra.
The 29-year-old made his T20I debut after Ireland handed him his first international cap for the first match of the series at the Civil Service Cricket Club.Born in Tonk, Rajasthan, Moondra moved to Ireland in 2021 to pursue a Masters in Electronics and Communications. After settling in the country, he joined the Leinster Cricket Club in Dublin and entered the domestic Irish cricket system.Interestingly, Moondra did not start out as a fast bowler. He started his cricket journey as a batsman who also bowled left-arm balls before later switching to pace.Earlier in the day, India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first.The Indian fast bowlers kept the Irish batsmen under pressure with disciplined bowling and restricted the hosts to 182 for nine. Harshit Rana was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 24.Irish captain Lorcan Tucker responded with 50 off 36 balls, but did not get enough support from the other batsmen.India did not give debut to teenage batsman Vaibhav Sooryavanshi despite pre-match expectations.
