NEW DELHI: Opening India Abhishek Sharma admitted his team failed to adapt to the conditions after Ireland stunned the reigning T20 World Cup champions by 34 runs in the first T20I in Belfast on Friday.Despite smashing a scintillating half-century, Abhishek could not prevent India from suffering their first defeat against Ireland in any format. The loss also marked a disappointing start Shreyas Iyer‘s captain as Ireland took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.‘We have to adapt very quickly’Abhishek said that quick adaptation to the conditions is crucial, especially when teams have very little time between games.“It’s important how quickly we adapt to the conditions, it’s really important as a team because when you play back-to-back games, as a group you have to step forward and get used to the conditions, whenever you have training sessions or you probably get used to it, I feel like a dominant team, you have to adapt very quickly and that’s what we tried to do today, but unfortunately that didn’t happen,” Sharma told reporters after the game.Ireland is making historyIreland made a challenging 182/9 after captain Lorcan Tucker led the way with a well-made half-century. Gareth Delany added 49, while George Dockrell’s late fireworks lifted the hosts to a strong total.Harshit Rana was India’s best bowler with figures of 3/24, while Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel claimed two wickets each.Abhishek shines, India collapsesChasing 183, India got off to a great start as Abhishek attacked from the first over. He smashed seven fours and two sixes in the run to his fifty in just 19 balls before falling to 50 off just 20 deliveries.However, the wickets were constantly hanging around him. Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and captain Shreyas Iyer failed to make an impact, while Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel failed to build partnerships.Shivam Dube briefly revived India’s hopes with a blistering 25 off 16 balls, but his dismissal ended any chance of a comeback. India were eventually bowled out for 148 in 18.5 overs.Matthew Hollard and Matthew Humphreys took three wickets each for Ireland, while debutant Jai Moondra impressed with figures of 2/25.Series on the lineThe two teams will meet again in the second and final T20I on Sunday, with India needing a win to avoid a series defeat after Ireland’s historic victory.
