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India’s attempt to level the T20I series against Ireland got off to a disastrous start in Belfast on Sunday as both openers, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, were dismissed for golden ducks in the very first over, creating an unwanted record in the process.Jai Moondra struck twice in the opening over, removing Samson and Abhishek off the first ball they faced. It marked only the second instance in T20I history involving Full Member nations where both opening batters were dismissed for first-ball ducks in the same innings. The only previous occurrence came in 2018 when Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar suffered the same fate against the West Indies in Basseterre. The collapse did not end there. Moondra returned in the third over to dismiss captain Shreyas Iyer, before Ishan Kishan was run out in the fifth over as India slumped to four wickets down 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 unwanted record. The left-handed opener registered his sixth duck in T20Is in the 2026 calendar year, leaving him just one behind Pakistan’s Saim Ayub, who holds the record with seven ducks in a calendar year among Full Member nations. Zimbabwe’s Richard Ngarava also had six ducks in 2024.Both India opening batters dismissed for ducks in a T20I inningsRohit & Rahane vs Pak Mirpur 2016Gill & Jaiswal vs SA Gqeberha 2023Samson & Abhishek vs Ire Belfast 2026It was also only the third time that both Indian opening batters had been dismissed for ducks in the same T20I innings. The previous instances came against Pakistan in Mirpur in 2016, when 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 had done well 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 the early wickets to reduce Ireland to 48 for 3 after eight overs.Playing his 100th T20I, Harry Tector steadied the innings with a composed 53 off 47 balls and stitched together a 65-run partnership with Ben Calitz, who made 37 from 23 deliveries. Shivam Dube then pulled things back for India by claiming two wickets in successive deliveries during the 15th over.India had handed T20I debuts to batting all-rounder Suryansh Shedge and fast bowler Prince Yadav, while 15-year-old batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again missed out on a place in the playing XI.The visitors entered the match trailing 0-1 in the series after suffering a historic 34-run defeat in the opening game, Ireland’s first-ever victory over India in international cricket.
