INDIA has won the first match of its three match ODI series with Ireland after picking up a six wicket win yesterday.

Ireland first posted 7/238 before India reached the target halfway through the 35th over.

The Irish made a decent start to its innings, but did not really accelerate until the middle part of the innings. A 117 run partnership between Leah Paul and Gaby Lewis helped take the score from 4/56 in the 14th over to 5/173 almost 25 overs later.

However, with five batters only making a single digit score and only two batters making any kind of decent score, making a competitive total against a quality side like India was always going to be difficult.

Unsurprisingly the two top scorers for the Irish were Lewis and Paul. Lewis belted 15 fours on her way to 92, while Paul hit seven fours of her own on the way to 59.

On the other side of the equation, Priya Mishra was the pick of the Indian bowlers with two wickets to her name.

In their reply, the Indians made a stellar start to their innings, going at about seven runs an over before losing their first wicket 10 overs in.

There was a little bit of a slow down for the next 10 overs, but Pratika Rawal and Tejal Hasabnis then got things really moving, belting 116 off about 13 overs to really accelerate the innings. By the time Ratwal was dismissed, there was just some tidying up to do for Haasabnis and Richa Ghosh to reach the target.

Rawal smashed 10 fours and a six on her way to 78, while Hasabnis hit nine fours of her own on her way to 53 not out.

Meanwhile for the Irish Aimee Maguire was the pick of the bowlers with a trio of wickets.