India captain Shreyas Iyer admits his side’s series defeat to Ireland “was depressing” – and conceded the visitors “definitely didn't expect Ireland to play that well”.

Ireland created a piece of history across last weekend as Lorcan Tucker’s men recorded a 2-0 triumph over the reigning T20 World Cup kings – and number one team in the world – following up Friday’s 34-run triumph with a one-run win on Sunday.

Prior to arriving in Belfast, India had won 16 successive series in cricket’s shortest format – a streak extending back to 2023 – and were widely considered huge favourites to extend that run.

India were using their trip to Ireland as preparation for a five-game series against England, which gets underway on Wednesday, and Iyer admits the hosts’ quality came as a shock.

placeholder image — Ireland players celebrate their series victory over India. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

"It wasn't embarrassing, but it was depressing for us because we definitely didn't expect Ireland to play that well," Iyer said in his pre-match press conference ahead of their England series according to Cricinfo. "They outplayed us in every department.

"They had brilliant ideas about the dimensions of the ground, and we fell short in terms of analysing and planning.

"The ground and the dimensions and how the wicket would play...kudos to them, credit to them, but we learned a lot from that series."

India hadn’t played in Ireland since a 2023 trip to Malahide and Iyer believes a failure to adapt to conditions played a key role in their downfall.

"A couple of us, we have played in England before, we know how the wickets are usually we see it on TV as well,” he added. “Belfast, we played after so many years.

"It's not a reason, but I'm just saying that turning up over there and then not getting acclimatised to the wicket, to the conditions, we fell a bit short in terms of reading the outfield and getting accustomed to the conditions over there.

"I feel it's completely different here because the Belfast ground definitely wasn't a stadium, and the outfield was a bit slow and it wasn't even and the dimensions were also a bit squarish.

"So cutting the angles, cutting the doubles, especially when you're fielding in the outfield, the angles...also as a captain, setting the field felt a bit outlandish because we are not used to it.

"We were playing in the IPL, all the grounds were perfectly even from every direction, so that was a bit challenging.”