Ireland vs India, 1st T20I at Dublin, IRE v IND, Aug 18 2023 - Match Result

6.38pm There was a lot of hype about Jasprit Bumrah's return coming into this series opener and he lived up to it right in the first over of the match, with an inducker doing Andy Balbirnie in before Lorcan Tucker gifted him a second wicket when he tried to go across the stumps to scoop him. Even apart from the wickets, he was on the money with swing and seam movement as well as his yorkers. That first over set the tone for most of the innings, with Prasidh Krishna also picking up two wickets on his T20I debut, and an injury comeback of his own. Ravi Bishnoi chipped in with a couple of wickets as well but Barry McCarthy kept Ireland in the game with a fantastic knock down the order. Chasing 140, India's openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad did just enough to get India above the par score before rain stopped the game. Craig Young came into the attack right after the powerplay to remove Jaiswal and Tilak Varma off consecutive deliveries but he couldn't even complete his over before the game was interrupted, and eventually called off. That will be all for today. Join us again on Saturday for the second game to find out if Ireland can keep the series alive or if India will seal the deal. This is Abhimanyu, signing off on behalf of Sreshth Shah and M Venkat Raghav.

6.30pm Time for the presentation ceremony.

India captain Jasprit Bumrah is the player of the match. Here's what he has to say: "Felt very good. So many sessions I did at the NCA and the practice games. Didn't feel like I missed out a lot or I'm doing something new so credit to the staff there. Very happy to be back and always good to contribute. [Any nerves?] Not really, when you're captaining you are thinking more about the whole team and not just your own performance. Very happy that the weather was helpful for the bowlers. In every game you want more and you always search for a perfect game. Credit to them as well for keeping their nerves in a crisis. [On competition within the Indian team] Everybody has a lot of belief in their game and I think the IPL also helps them. The bunch that we have is very confident and that's a good sign for our team. [On the crowd support] It's always good wherever we go we get a lot of support."

Barry McCarthy: "Always nice to contribute to the team. Disappointed to not go over the line. [On partnership with Campher] We knew we could put a score on the board. We are both aggressive players and we wanted to stay positive. I think playing the positive way brings the game into the hands of someone who is going to get you to a score. Taking the game to the opposition is the best way. Happy to contribute to the team no matter what position I bat in."

Amit: "Two sixes in last couple of overs made the difference"

Rahul R: "McCarthy should be player of the match." That's not a bad shout at all! Was a superb knock that really rescued Ireland.

Jay: "I feel for Ireland, as this had the potential to be an interesting game after the 2 quick wickets."

6.15pm The game is called off due to incessant rains. India win by two runs on DLS. So India go 1-0 up in the series, having done just enough before the rain set in. It's still pouring in Malahide and the umbrellas are out in full force. Bumrah and Stirling have shaken hands.

Hassan Raza: "Looks like we are not going to have any other game tonight. Thanks to rain." That does seem like the most likely outcome.

Abishek : "@Bhargav other than his pads, I don't see it.."

6pm Still no official updates. The wait goes on.

Some more rain-time reading for you lot. Here's Hemant Brar's piece on Bumrah and Prasidh's promising comebacks from injury.

Prajwal: "Jaiswal is too good a player to play an ugly pull like that and throw his wicket away. He did that in the WI series as well. He needs to learn to not get bogged down by a couple of dot balls." But that's the flipside to taking an aggressive approach. India have come under criticism for being too conservative in this format and Jaiswal is someone who, especially since the last IPL season, has taken an attacking template. There will be times when he gets out, but it also ensures the team is scoring at a healthy rate more often than not.

Ever wondered how India's squad for major competitions like Asian Games or Olympics is selected? The system can vary from sport to sport, is often confusing, sometimes subjective and leads to frequent legal battles. Here's a closer look at Indian sport's selection policies.

Suresh Kalass: "Reporting from stadium: Rain is only going to get worse. We should call it a match." Yup, the visuals don't look very promising. But fingers crossed we get some more cricket. But in case there isn't, India are ahead of the DLS par score by two runs.

5.37pm The rain is quite heavy now, and the weather looks ominous.

ICYMI, here's how Bumrah announced his return to international cricket.

5.35pm Thanks Sreshth. The rain stayed away for very long, but finally it's made its mark.

5.30pm Time for Abhimanyu Bose to entertain you all through the break and then till the finish.

5.28pm Use the rain delay by rolling back the years and reliving the last 15 years of Virat Kohli's career in this nicely packaged gallery.

5.24pm The umpires have a chat and determine that the rain is too heavy. The players are going off with India two runs ahead on the DLS. The pitch gets covered and the locals believe that the rain shouldn't be here for too long.

Rain getting heavier. India a couple runs ahead on DLS.

Samson facing the hat-trick ball. 44/2 is the DLS score as of this delivery.

A first-ball duck for Tilak.

Quite a few umbrellas open.

DLS par at the end of 7 overs is 42/1, 46/2...

Bhargav : "You don't have to publish this, but Jaiswal reminds me of Ganguly."

It is quite rare for Josh Little to bowl a third powerplay over by the way. Stirling might be thinking this game won't be lasting the full 20 overs.

DLS par is 33/0 at end of six overs.

rain is around. Reminder, the DLS par is 27 after five overs.

Three boundaries in four overs. Run rate under six. The DLS par is 27 for the end of five overs, the min. number of overs needed to constitute a game. Very dark out there.