India tried to equalize the T20I series against Ireland in Belfast on Sunday, but both openers suffered disastrous starts. Sanzhou Samson and Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a golden duck in the first over, creating an unpopular record in the process.Jai Moondra struck twice in the opening over, removing Samson and Abhishek from the first ball they faced. This is only the second time in T20I history involving a full member nation that two opening batsmen have been dismissed for a duck on the first ball of the same innings. The only other time this has happened was in 2018, when Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar suffered the same fate against West Indies at Basseterre. The collapse didn’t end there. Mudra returned in the third over and dismissed the captain Shreyas Iyerafter Ishan Kishan was dismissed in the fifth over, India fell to four wickets in the powerplay while chasing 155 runs.Most ducks in T20Is in a calendar year (FM Team)7 Saim Ayoub(2025)6 Richard Ngarawa (2024)6 Abhishek Sharma(2026)*The innings also added to Abhishek Sharma’s unpopular tally. The left-handed opener picked up his sixth duck in T20Is in calendar year 2026, trailing only Pakistan’s Saim Ayub, who holds the record of seven ducks in a year for a full member nation. In 2024, Richard Ngarava of Zimbabwe also raised six ducks.Two Indian opening batsmen dismissed for ducks in T20I inningsRohit and Rahane vs Pak Mirpur 2016Gill and Jaiswal vs SA Gqeberha 2023Samson and Abhishek vs Al Belfast 2026This is also the third time that two Indian opening batsmen have been dismissed for ducks in the same T20I innings. The previous case occurred during a match against Pakistan in Mirpur in 2016. Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane fell without a score, as well as the 2023 match against South Africa at Gqeberha when Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal were dismissed for ducks.Earlier in the evening, India restricted Ireland to 154 for 8 after electing to bowl first. The pace trio of Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and debutant Prince Yadav shared wickets early on, reducing Ireland to 48 for 3 after eight overs.Harry Tector, playing his 100th T20I, steadied the innings with 53 off 47 balls and pieced together a 65-run partnership with Ben Calitz, who made 37 off 23 deliveries. Later, Shivam Dube managed to take two wickets in the 15th over to equalize the match for India.India handed all-rounder Suryansh Shedge and fast bowler Prince Yadav their T20I debuts, while 15-year-old batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again missed out on the starting XI.The visitors went into the series 0-1 after suffering a historic 34-run defeat in the first game, which was Ireland’s first win over India in international cricket.
