Ashwin's Dublin Guardians fall to Maxwell-inspired Belfast Wolves in ETPL opener
Ravichandran Ashwin's first outing as a franchise captain in Europe ended in defeat. His Dublin Guardians lost the second match of the inaugural European T20 Premier League by 52 runs to Belfast Wolves on 27 August 2026. The game was played in the Netherlands, in the Voorburg and Hague area, after rain interrupted the start.
The Guardians won the toss and chose to bowl. The damp conditions seemed to favour them early on. Belfast were soon 48 for 3, and then 68 for 4. Paul Stirling hit a quick 31 off 21 balls, with six fours, before Vijay Shankar took a catch at the boundary off Josh Little. Tim Tector and Lorcan Tucker also went early, and Tucker fell for a first-ball duck.
The Wolves' recovery came from Mark Chapman and their captain Glenn Maxwell. Chapman made 54 off 33 balls, including two sixes. Maxwell then made 60 off 38 balls, with four sixes, and was named Player of the Match. Their fifth-wicket stand was worth 84 runs and lifted the score from 68 for 4 to 152 for 5 by the end of the 17th over. Chris Jordan helped Maxwell add a further 30 after Chapman was out. Belfast finished on 184 for 7.
For Indian viewers, Ashwin's spell was the bright spot for Dublin. He bowled his four overs for just 23 runs and trapped Devon Conway lbw, who made 9 off 12 balls. In a lineup full of overseas white-ball names, the off-spinner's control through the middle overs kept the total from getting bigger. Chris Wood was the most successful Dublin bowler with 3 for 43, and Josh Little took two wickets. Another young Ireland left-arm spinner picked up two wickets in Belfast's innings. The scorecard shows that Chapman's wicket went to Matt Hollard, whose catch was taken by Muhammad Waseem.
The chase fell apart early. Dublin lost six wickets for 36 runs, and the match was effectively decided at that point. Belfast's bowlers kept pitching short of a length, and the Guardians' top six could not handle it. Ashwin was out mistiming a shot off Matthew Humphreys, with Mark Adair taking a diving catch from long-on. George Dockrell hit 35 off 22 balls with three sixes and offered the only real resistance. Hollard and Wood stayed in at the end, but the Guardians finished on 132 for 9. Saurabh Netravalkar, the US left-arm seamer of Indian origin, bowled four overs for 24 and took one wicket for Belfast. Fred Klaassen and Humphreys were also praised for keeping Dublin's scoring low.
What does this mean? The ETPL was launched by a group of Indian investors together with the cricket boards of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It brought six city franchises and several senior Indian names into European cricket. Ashwin leading Dublin made the Guardians one of the most watched sides, with Vijay Shankar also in the playing XI. Starting with a heavy defeat put the Guardians on the back foot in a round-robin competition that ran from 26 August to 20 September.
Belfast, in contrast, made a statement. They recovered from a shaky 68 for 4 with a batting plan led by Maxwell and Chapman, and they backed it with a disciplined bowling effort. They went on to reach the final, where Edinburgh Castle Rockers beat them by seven wickets to take the first title.
This match is a reminder of how these new leagues work. Indian cricketers are now part of franchise competitions outside India, and one of the country's best spinners is captaining a side in a new market. Ashwin's captaincy in later games will matter more to Indian fans than this opening result, but the early signs showed that Dublin needed more runs from their top order to support their bowling attack.