Malahide: Ireland suffered back-to-back losses in their T20 series against India after being beaten by 33 runs in Dublin on Sunday.

The hosts were set a challenging target of 186 to chase at Malahide but came up short despite Andy Balbirnie’s 72 runs off 51 balls, meaning India has an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson gave the visitors the advantage, putting on a 71-run partnership before Ben White bowled the wicketkeeper for a 26-ball 40 and Barry McCarthy took his second wicket of the afternoon to dismiss Gaikwad for a 43-ball 58.

Despite losing their two big-hitters, Rinku Singh (38) and Shivam Dube (22 not out) picked up the pace to smash 55 from 28 balls. Craig Young caught Singh off Mark Adair on the penultimate ball of the innings as India finished on 185-5.

Ireland got off to a rocky start when Prasidh Krishna took the wickets of captain Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker, who both went for ducks, in the third over and Harry Tector soon fell for seven.

Balbirnie put runs on the board for Ireland, forming a valuable partnership with George Dockerell as the opening batter smashed 35 runs from a 52-run partnership.

Arshdeep Singh brought his brilliant innings to an end in the 16th over after Balbirnie was caught by Samson before Adair hit 23 from 15 balls as Ireland finished on 152-8.

The third T20 game is on Wednesday. AP