India in 'disbelief' but offer 'absolutely no excuses' after series defeat to Ireland

The visitors were beaten by one run in the second game of the two-match series on Sunday which followed a 34-run loss in the series opener on Friday in Belfast.

India have won back-to-back T20 World Cups, including earlier this year, and were expected to beat Ireland ahead of their five-match series in England, starting later this week.

"There's a little bit of disbelief," ten Doeschate said when asked what the team's reaction to this shock defeat was. "It's also very hard to be critical of guys who have just won a World Cup.

"We've been outdone or outsmarted by a team who just did the basics very well. So firstly, credit to Ireland, and secondly the learnings for us in terms of being able to adapt to different conditions.

"That's probably the biggest takeaway from this. The guys really know how to play in India. This is a good lesson in the fact that we're going to have to adapt and play slightly differently when we go to different countries and play against different teams."

It was also India's first series defeat in the shortest format in 16 attempts which showed their dominance in T20 cricket.

âœAgain, absolutely no excuses,❠ten Doeschate added. "but when presented with a different challenge we have to find solutions of playing in a different manner, in a better manner.

"I thought Ireland did that very well with the ball. They never let us hit straight. In two matches, I think we hit two straight sixes. They were both off the spinner. They just did the basics really well and we couldn't combat that.

"We're probably too used to a sort of a tempo and style where you can hit sixes more freely. I think this will be the case when you go to England as well, you know, maybe slightly quicker wickets, maybe slightly less wind, but we're going to have to adapt and be a lot smarter about how we'd like to play if we're going to get wins there."

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