Hardik Pandya explains why he chose Umran Malik for the final over   

The captain for Ireland versus India series, Hardik Pandya led the Indian Cricket Team to a nail-biting 4-run victory against Ireland in the final game. Despite having a gigantic score of 225 runs on the board, the Indian bowlers faced intense competition from the Irish batters. They kept on smashing boundaries to almost every bowler and were not far from chasing down the total. They needed only 17 runs in the final over to register an upset, Pandya took a gamble and handed the crucial over to the young pace sensation Umran Malik, who was just playing his second international match. 

Pandya later described his actions in the post-match presentation, he said; “I was trying to keep all the pressure out of my equation. I wanted to be in the present and I backed Umran. He has pace, with his pace it's always going to be tough to get 18 runs. They played some amazing shots, they batted very well, credit to them and credit to our bowlers for holding their nerves.”

The 28-year-old allrounder also spoke about the match environment in Ireland and thanked all the Indian fans who supported them from the stands. Pandya was grateful to the fans and also notified that their favourite players were Sanju Samson and Dinesh Karthik as they cheered them unceasingly. 

"The crowd, their favourite boys were Dinesh and Sanju. Great experience to experience this side of the world. A lot of support comes for us, we try to entertain them and hope we did that. Thanks to everyone who supported us," said the Indian skipper.

"As a child, it's always a dream to play for your country. Leading and getting the first win was special, now winning the series is special as well. Happy for Deepak and Umran," Pandya added.

Now speaking about the top performances of the match, Ireland put on an exceptional show with the bat in hand. The Irish skipper Andrew Balbirnie topped the charts by scoring 60 runs, he was propped up by Paul Stirling and Harry Tactor who added 40 runs and 30 runs respectively. Despite that effort, all went in vain as the Indian side seized the victory in a last-ball thriller by only a margin of four runs. 

Opener Sanju Samson scored 77 runs, assisted by Deepak Hooda who outperformed with his massive 104 runs. They both anchored the ship to put a huge score of 225/7 on the board.

With this, India won the series 2-0. Ireland lost both but indeed put up a great fight. Also, it will be notable for the Indian side as the Ireland cricket team made them panic-stricken by their formidable performance.