India, in a must-win match to qualify for the semi-finals, looked ready to take on Ireland and for the first time in the tournament, opted to bat first in Gqeberha on Monday.
The pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma took their time to score runs. Shafali, especially, expecting faster deliveries, appeared to struggle against Orla Prendergast and Georgina Dempsey, as they held back on pace and focused more on swing.
Mandhana, who scored a half-century in the last match against England, continued from where she had left off scoring the bulk of the runs between the pair.
Ireland's fielding, which cost them the match against West Indies, looked rather sharp this time around, with the fielders saving a couple of sure boundaries within the first four overs.
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The batters, then, opened their arms after the introduction of left-arm spinner Leah Paul, who ended up conceding 12 runs in her first over, with the scoreboard reading 42/0 at the end of the powerplay.
Mandhana got lifelines with Ireland fielders dropping her a couple of times.
Ireland's bowlers produced several opportunities, but it was either the ball falling short of the fielders or them failing to reach the ball in time.
Ireland's fielding, which looked assertive in the early goings, appeared to lack cohesiveness leading to missed chances.
Shafali, who struggled throughout her innings, was caught in the deep for a 29-ball 24 off captain Laura Delany, leaving India at 63-1 after 10 overs.
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Harmanpreet Kaur came out to the pitch at No. 3 instead of the usual Jemimah Rodrigues owing to India's struggle with getting runs.
Mandhana, realising that the boundaries had dried up, managed to hit a welcome four off Paul in the 11th over.
Harmanpreet got to her personal milestone of 3,000 T20I runs, the only Indian woman batter to do so and the fourth overall.
Mandhana got yet another lifeline when she stepped out of the crease, only managing to sky one, when on 46. She finally brought up her 22nd fifty in T20Is, and the second of the 2023 World Cup, hitting a six off Cara Murray.
She truly opened her arms to go after Dempsey in the subsequent over, hitting back-to-back boundaries.
Harmanpreet on the other hand, like Shafali earlier, struggled to meet her objective of scoring runs.
Delany, Ireland's most successful bowler of the match so far, brought herself on in the 16th over. Mandhana went after her, hitting a six to bring up the 50-run stand with the India captain. Harmanpreet, though, was put off her misery, caught by Prendergast in the deep for a 20-ball 13, giving Delany her second wicket of the match.
With 4 overs remaining, Richa Ghosh came in to add runs on the board, but was dismissed for a duck, caught by Gaby Lewis off the bowling of the Ireland captain.
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Mandhana realised the importance of scoring with the breeze and did just that on multiple occasions, going after every delivery she faced in Delany's last over and getting 15 runs from it.
While on 87, she also overtook her previous best score of 86, which had come against New Zealand. Mandhana was dismissed after getting caught be Lewis off Prendergast.
Deepti Sharma got out in the subsequent delivery for a first-ball duck giving Prendergast her second wicket of the match and an opportunity at a World Cup hat-trick.
Jemimah Rodrigues went after Arlene Kelly in the last over of the innings, helping India put on the highest total, 155-6, at Gqeberha.
