India-born left-arm pacer Jai Moondra made a memorable start to his international career by becoming only the second Irish player to take a wicket with the first ball of his T20I debut.Playing his international debut against India in Belfast on Friday, Moondra impressed with his debut in India’s second innings. The victim was Sanju Samson, who was bowled after pulling the ball on his stumps in an attempt to force it through the side.Moondra joined Matthew Humphreys as the only Irish bowlers to claim a wicket with the first ball in their T20I match.A wicket in the first ball of the T20I for Ireland
- Matthew Humphreys
- Jai Moondra.
The 29-year-old was making his T20I debut when Ireland handed him his first international cap in the opening match at the Civil Service Cricket Club.Born in Tonk, Rajasthan, Moondra moved to Ireland in 2021 to pursue a Master’s degree in Electronics and Communication. After settling in the country, he joined the Leinster Cricket Club in Dublin and worked his way up to the Irish cricket team.Interestingly, Moondra did not start out as a footballer. He started his cricket career as a batsman who also batted left-arm before switching.Earlier, Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first.India’s fast bowlers put the Irish batsmen under pressure with systematic bowling and restricted the bowlers to 182 for 9. Harshit Rana was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 24.Irish captain Lorcan Tucker fought back with 50 off 36 balls, but did not get enough support from the other batsmen.India did not give debut to young batsman Vaibhav Sooryavanshi despite expectations before the match.