India defeated Ireland by eight wickets to pick up their first win in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. The bowlers put up a magnificent show in the first innings, and the batters did the rest of the job to pick up a comfortable win at Nassau County Cricket Stadium in New York.
India skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first after winning the toss. The surface once again proved to be on the slower side and the Indian bowlers took complete advantage of that. Arshdeep Singh gave a couple of early blows to Ireland and later, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah took care of the business.
The all-rounder, who had a poor outing in IPL 2024, picked up three wickets while Bumrah picked up two, giving away just six runs in three overs. India restricted Ireland to 96 runs and were the favourite to get the job done in the second innings.
When it came to the chase, Virat Kohli departed early but Rohit was phenomenal and hit 52 runs off 37 balls before retiring hurt. The skipper hit his muscle and left the field as he didn’t want to take any risk. Batting at number three, Rishabh Pant once again made the most of the opportunity. He made 36* runs off 26 balls as India chased it down under 13 overs.
1. Impressive outing from Indian bowlers
Arshdeep started well with the new ball and Bumrah and Pandya executed perfectly in the middle overs. Things got slightly complicated towards the fag end but it didn’t bother the Men in Blue. They restricted Ireland cheaply and was too easy for them in the bat.
2. Skipper led from the front
Rohit Sharma’s form was a massive concern leading up to the T20 World Cup. However, the skipper dashed out all the talks with an impressive performance against Ireland. He did remarkably well with the bat and that should give him a lot of confidence for the remainder of the tournament. Meanwhile, the 37-year-old also completed 4000 runs in T20I cricket.
Losing skipper Paul Stirling said:
Toss played a crucial part – stuck in to bat in overcast conditions. We needed to put a bit of pressure back on the Indian bowlers. They didn’t really miss that often. Their groupings and lengths were outstanding. Any time in the middle is crucial for us. We’ll be back here for a couple of days. Will give it a good crack against Canada.
Winning skipper Rohit Sharma said:
Yeah, just a little sore (the arm). I said it at the toss as well. Quite unsure of what to expect from the pitch. Not aware on what it is to play like on a pitch that’s five months old. I don’t think the wicket settled down even when we batted second. There was enough for the bowlers. That’s pretty much what you gotta do. Try to hit those lengths consistently. All these guys have played a lot of Test cricket. Arshdeep is the only guy who hasn’t. His two wickets upfront set the tone for us. Don’t think we can play four spinners here (laughs). When we picked the team, we wanted to have the balance. If conditions are there for seamers, we wanted to have that. Spin will play a part later on. Today was a four-seamer pitch and we still managed to get two spinners who are allrounders. I don’t know what to expect from the pitch to be honest. We will prepare as if the conditions are going to be like this (for Pakistan game). This is going to be a kind of game where all XI of us will need to contribute. It was scratchy, but good to spend some time in the middle and understand what kind of shots to play there.
POTM Jasprit Bumrah said:
Coming from India, with the ball seaming around, I wouldn’t complain when there’s help for bowlers. In this format you have to adapt to the conditions, you have to be proactive. Trying to stick to the plans and trying to go back to what has worked for me. You always want to cover all the bases in these conditions. You got to be prepared, very happy with the outing today.
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