India’s bid to clinch the T20I series against Ireland got off to a bad start in Belfast on Sunday both openers, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, was dismissed for golden ducks in the early stages, making unnecessary history this time.Jai Moondra struck twice in the opener, removing Samson and Abhishek on the first ball he faced. It became only the second time in T20I history involving the Full member nations that both batsmen were dismissed for ducks playing the first ball in the same over. The previous incident happened in 2018 when Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar faced the same fate against West Indies in Basseterre. The fall did not end there. Moondra returned in the third over to remove the skipper Shreyas IyerBefore Ishan Kishan was dismissed in the fifth over as India slipped to four wickets inside the Powerplay while chasing 155.Most ducks in T20Is in a calendar year (FM teams)7 Saim Ayub (2025)6 Richard Ngarava (2024)6 Abhishek Sharma (2026) *The innings also added to Abhishek Sharma’s unnecessary record. The left-arm opener registered his sixth duck in T20Is in 2026, leaving him one behind Pakistan’s Saim Ayub, who has seven ducks in a calendar year among full member nations. Richard Ngarava from Zimbabwe also had 6 ducks in 2024.All the Indian opening batsmen were dismissed for ducks in the T20I inningsRohit & Rahane vs Pak Mirpur 2016Gill & Jaiswal vs SA Gqeberha 2023Samson & Abhishek vs Ireland Belfast 2026It was also the third time that all Indian batsmen were dismissed for ducks in the same T20I innings. The previous cases came against Pakistan in Mirpur in 2016, where Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane fell without scoring, and against South Africa in Gqeberha in 2023, when Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal were dismissed for ducks.Earlier in the evening, India managed to restrict Ireland to 154 for 8 after opting to bowl first. The pace trio of Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and debutant Prince Yadav shared early wickets to reduce Ireland to 48 for 3 after eight overs.Playing his 100th T20I, Harry Tector extended the innings by making 53 from 47 balls and included a partnership of 65 with Ben Calitz, who made 37 from 23 balls. Shivam Dube then turned things around for India by taking two consecutive wickets in the 15th over.India gave T20I appearances to batsman Suryansh Shedge and fast pacer Prince Yadav, while 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also missed out on the playing XI.The visitors went into the match trailing 0-1 in the series after a historic 34-run defeat in the opening match, Ireland’s first victory over India in international cricket.
