For nearly two years, India’s T20 side looked almost untouchable. They won the Asia Cup, conquered Australia away from home, defended their T20 World Cup crown and built an insane streak of 16 unbeaten bilateral series. That aura crashed in Belfast. An injury-hit Ireland side missing some of its biggest names (including Paul Stirling, Mark Adair, Curtis Campher and Josh Little) not only defeated India but also completed a 2-0 sweep that few saw coming.
The shock was evident even in the words of India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate, who admitted there was a sense of disbelief within the dressing room after the series ended.
“There’s a little bit of disbelief,” ten Doeschate said after the defeat. “It’s also very hard to be critical of guys who have just won a World Cup. We’ve been outdone or outsmarted by a team who just did the basics very well.”
India might have lost a few important series in the other two formats, but the shortest format remained their strongest suit. Gautam Gambhir, as Indian head coach, hasn’t been defeated in a T20I series but now, the Men in Blue have to admit that they were complacent. The same management oversaw India’s triumphs in the Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup, but it has also been present during two painful moments: the end of India’s 12-year unbeaten home Test series run and now the end of a 16-series unbeaten streak in T20I cricket.
Ireland exposes India’s weakness
The biggest lesson for India from this shocking series is that they have to adapt quickly to conditions. India arrived with nine members of their T20 World Cup-winning squad. Ireland fielded four players who had never played a T20I before the series. Yet it was the hosts who looked far more comfortable in the conditions. Ten Doeschate pointed directly towards India’s inability to adjust.
“The guys really know how to play in India. This is a good lesson in the fact that we’re going to have to adapt and play slightly differently when we go to different countries and play against different teams.” He repeatedly referenced the strong crosswind and the difficulty of hitting straight at Stormont.
” I thought Ireland did that very well with the ball. They never let us hit straight. In two matches, I think we hit two straight sixes. They were both off the spinner. They just did the basics really well and we couldn’t combat that.” “We’re probably too used to a sort of a tempo and style where you can hit sixes more freely. I think this will be the case when you go to England as well, you know, maybe slightly quicker wickets, maybe slightly less wind, but we’re going to have to adapt and be a lot smarter about how we’d like to play if we’re going to get wins there.”
Ireland’s batters consistently targeted the V and picked safer scoring areas. India, meanwhile, kept attempting high-risk strokes square of the wicket despite the extra bounce and wind assistance for the bowlers.
World champions let themselves down
While the bowling had encouraging signs, the batting was awful in the series.
Harshit Rana returned from a four-month injury layoff with four wickets across the series and consistently troubled Ireland’s batters with pace and bounce. Prince Yadav impressed on debut. Even Shivam Dube chipped in usefully with the ball.
The problems were elsewhere.
Sanju Samson managed scores of 5, 0 and 0 across the two games and was dismissed twice by Irish debutant Jai Moondra. Abhishek Sharma produced a 49-ball blitz in the opener but followed it with a golden duck. Shreyas Iyer scored 3 and 10 in his first series as captain. Axar Patel’s struggles with the bat continued, with his T20 numbers in 2026 now reading an average of 14.86 and a strike rate of 119.89.
Even Tilak Varma’s half-century in the second match came under pressure and never quite changed momentum India’s way. He took too many balls, an issue that India need to address come the five-match T20I series against England, starting July 1.
