India vs Ireland, 2009 and 2024: 6 Interesting and un-noticed similarities between both 'India vs Ireland T20 World Cup matches'

India took on Ireland on June 05, 2024, in their campaign opener of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024. The game was played at the newly-built Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. The men in blue comfortably won this clash against Ireland by a big margin of 8 wickets.

Notably, it was only the second meeting of India and Ireland in the history of the T20 World Cup since the tournament’s inception 17 years back in 2007. Previously, before T20 WC 2024, when both the teams faced each other, it was in the 12th match of the T20 World Cup 2009, at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in England.

The interesting fact about these two matches between India and Ireland in the T20 World Cup is that there are a few similarities between both clashes.

Having said that, here we’ll have a look at the 6 interesting and un-noticed similarities between India vs Ireland T20 World Cup matches in 2009 and 2024 editions, which you may have missed.

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Here’s a look at 6 Interesting and un-noticed similarities between the 'India vs Ireland T20 World Cup matches'

1. India won the toss and elected to bat first

The first similarity between the 2009 and 2024 T20 World Cup matches between India and Ireland is that the men in blue won the toss in both matches. Interestingly, the Indian skippers (MS Dhoni in the 2009 edition and Rohit Sharma in the 2024 edition) opted to field first in both matches.

2. The ‘Number 7’ batter was the only one for Ireland to Score 25+ individual score

Notably, the Irish looked struggling in both the matches of the T20 World Cup against India, which also led to one more similarity. You might not know but was the ‘number 7’ batter in both matches for Ireland to play an individual knock of 25+ runs. In the T20 World Cup 2009 clash, number 7 batter Andrew White scored 29 runs off 25 balls, with 3 fours and a six against India.

On the other hand, in the T20 World Cup 2024 clash, it was again a number 7 batter and now he was Gerath Delany who scored 26 runs off 14 balls, with 2 fours and 2 sixes against India.

3. Rohit Sharma played an unbeaten knock of 52 runs in both matches

For the unversed, the current India skipper Rohit Sharma was there in the role of an opener in the T20 World Cup 2009’s group match against Ireland. The then-22-year-old Rohit played an unbeaten knock of 52 runs off 45 balls, with 4 fours and a six.

Even after 15 years of that World T20 clash against Ireland, it was Rohit Sharma whose knock didn’t change despite a lot of changes in this one-and-a-half decade. Once again, Rohit Sharma ‘the skipper’ in T20 WC 2024 game against Ireland, played an unbeaten knock of 52 runs off 37 balls, with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

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4. One left-hander in the Indian top order scored 30+ individual scores

The left-hander in India’s top order in the T20 World Cup 2009 match against Ireland was none other than the former opener Gautam Gambhir. After 15 years in the 2024 World T20 game, it was Rishabh Pant a left-hander in the top-order, who came to bat at number.

Both the Indian left-handers in top-order, in 2009 and 2024 played an individual knock of 30+ runs as Gautam Gambhir then scored 37 runs off 31 balls, with 3 fours and a six. Rishabh Pant in the T20 World Cup 2024 match, scored 36 runs off 26 balls, with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

5. Indian pacer won the ‘Player of the Match award’

Even after a few other good performances for India in the T20 World Cup 2009 game against Ireland, it was the former star pacer Zaheer Khan who won the ‘Player of the Match award for his sensational bowling performance as he scalped 4 wickets at the cost of just 19 runs in his 3 overs.

15 years later in the T20 World Cup 2024’s group match against the same Irish team, once again, it was an Indian pacer to win the ‘Player of the Match award. Star pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah bagged the award with his outstanding bowling, scalping 2 wickets at the cost of just 6 runs in his 3 overs, including one maiden over.

6. India won by 8 wickets

Besides all the above-discussed similarities, last but not least, there was another major similarity between the T20 World Cup matches between India and Ireland in 2009 and 2024. Interestingly, it was the eventual result of the match which was in India’s favour on both occasions.

India won the Nottingham fixture of T20 World Cup 2009 against Ireland by a margin of 8 wickets; the men in blue under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma repeated the win with the same margin of 8 wickets against Ireland in the New York game in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

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