A spirited bowling performance with assistance from the surface, followed by a comfortable yet dynamic batting display helped India kick off their T20 World Cup campaign with a win against Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. (Highlights|Scorecard|More Cricket News)
However, in a slight disaster that struck, India will be sweating on Rohit Sharma’s fitness as he was hit on the arm and looked in discomfort.
After the Indian fast bowlers hurt Ireland, the batting unit, chasing a modest total got the job done in under 13 overs with eight wickets in hand.
As Yashasvi Jaiswal, expectedly started on the bench, India opened with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. It was a cautious start from the duo as the ball was jagging around and an early nick off Rohit did not stick at second slip.
After putting the early ghosts behind, Rohit started to get in the zone and the hits started to get clean. However, Virat Kohli did not have an outing to remember as he had to walk back for an early massage scoring just one.
India's new No.3 Rishabh Pant joined his skipper in the middle but it was Rohit who was applying all the pressure by playing some beautiful shots.
He registered his first fifty of the 2024 T20 World Cup as well as reached 4,000 runs in T20 Internationals. Pant started to cut loose and changed his gear to score a flurry of boundaries after Rohit was retired hurt for 52.
Suryakumar Yadav wanted to finish it in style but the slog-sweep did not work as he was out for two. However, three balls later, Pant finished with a trademark Pant reverse-scoop that flew for six.
Earlier in the day, it was the India skipper who won the toss and put Ireland to bat. Arshdeep Singh was making the ball talk picking two wickets very early. Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, all interested in the ball-talk show, joined in and decimated Ireland, restricting them for just 96.
With Canada, United States and Pakistan yet to come to Ireland, and with a (-3.065) net run-rate, they will have to win all their games to progress to the next stage of the tournament.
