IRE vs IND 28th June at Belfast,2nd T20I,India tour of Ireland, 2026

A slightly slow and bouncy pitch, two overs of poor execution with the ball, and India's phenomenal run of 12 straight series or tournament wins in T20Is has been snapped. They still have a record to defend: that of 16 consecutive undefeated series or tournaments. Gautam Gambhir, the head coach who presided over India's first Test series whitewash at home and the end of a 12-year undefeated run in Test series at home, does not want this on his CV. He has called for optional nets even though there is only one day between the two T20Is in Belfast.

Ireland, still basking in the glow of their first international win against India, will dream of a series win, which could be their biggest result in bilateral international cricket since they beat West Indies 2-1 in ODIs in early 2022. Only four of those players played in the XI against India on Friday. They knew the conditions better, which proved to be critical.

India will look for a big improvement with the ball even though they started off perfectly well, reducing Ireland to 30 for 3. Similar conditions will mean more bowling into the pitch to try and force batters to score square rather than hit to the short straight boundary.

Also under the scanner will be Shreyas Iyer's team selection and the use of bowlers after he brought Washington Sundar on for the first time in the 16th over against two right-hand batters, an over in which the momentum shifted towards Ireland.

When: Ireland vs India, 2nd T20I, Sunday, June 28, 2026, 1:30 PM local time / 6 PM IST

Where: Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast

What to expect: Once again, a bit of rain is expected but not enough to ruin play entirely. The pitch in the first game had something in it for the bowlers which made 182 a comfortably defendable total. Expect another such surface to get rolled out

Team News:

India

The visitors could consider one change to the team that lost the series opener, but not the one that most are anticipating to see. Prince Yadav for Prasidh Krishna, who went for 57 runs in four overs in the first T20I could be a move worth considering.

Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna/Prince Yadav

Ireland

Absolutely no reason for the home team to tinker with a winning combination.

Probable XI: Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (c & wk), Benjamin Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Liam McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Jai Moodra, Matthew Hollard

In the spotlight: Jai Moondra and Harshit Rana

Jai Moondra, born in the same town of Tonk in Rajasthan as another international left-arm seamer, Khaleel Ahmed, chose a different route to international cricket, qualifying to play for Ireland and then taking a wicket first ball on international debut, incidentally against the country of his birth. He is not extraordinarily tall, but he used the conditions well on Friday. Can he play a part in a series upset against his country of birth?

Harshit Rana was desperately unlucky when he injured himself in the warm-up round of the T20 World Cup, missing both India's title win and then the IPL. He returned to top-flight cricket not having missed a beat, banging the hard length, and returning figures of 4-0-24-3. He will want to establish himself firmly in the XI, especially in the absence of the resting Jasprit Bumrah

Pitch and conditions

Expect more of the same from the pitch: a bit of slowness, a bit of extra bounce, bringing the big square boundaries into play. The weather continues to be fair.

Stats and trivia

• Lorcan Tucker has scored a half-century in each of the three T20Is that he has captained Ireland in.
• Prasidh Krishna has conceded a total of 125 runs in his last two T20Is: 68 against Australia in 2023 and 57 against Ireland on Friday. That is the most for any bowler in consecutive T20Is, going past Gambia's Musa Jobarteh's 124.

Did you know:

-This will be the first T20I series that India will fail to win since January 2024- Shreyas Iyer became the fourth India captain - after Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill - to lose his maiden T20I in charge

What they said:

"I think you can't take anything for granted. You can't just turn up and win matches. You have to work hard and see to it that you're in that moment." -Shreyas Iyeron his message to the team after the unexpected defeat.

"It was pretty special. But just credit to the lads. I think we scrapped through that game. We had some tough periods in it, but we stayed in it. And we were diligent, and we worked hard. And we were lucky to get the reward in the end." - Ireland captain Lorcan Tucker on his team's historic win.

Thank you Soni for the thread and fo tagging.

India should win this match. Let us see....

Ireland (IRE) is set to face India (IND). Ireland defeated India by 34 runs in the first T20I match. It was a historic night for the hosts, their first-ever international victory over India, and it now gives them a golden opportunity to secure the series 2-0. Ireland batted first and scored 182 runs in 20 overs. Lorcan Tucker scored 50 runs off 36 balls, while Gareth Delany scored 49 runs off 32 balls. Harshit Rana took three wickets.

In response, India lost the key wickets of Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, and Shreyas Iyer quite early in the innings. Abhishek Sharma fought hard and scored 50 runs in just 20 balls, hitting 7 fours and 2 sixes. Matthew Humphreys and Matt Hollard bowled beautifully, taking 3 wickets each to help dismiss India for 148, as Ireland made history by defeating India by 34 runs