Dubai: Indian team managed to shake off some rust with an eight-wicket win over Ireland in their Group A opener in the Twenty20 World Cup in New York on Wednesday. While the bowlers were on the money, creating plenty of problems for Ireland and dismissing the Test nation to a lowly 96 on a wicket that had plenty of assistance to the bowlers.
It is not just the seaming conditions that troubled the Irish batters, the double-paced, drop-in pitch had plenty of uneven bounce, which posed more problems for the Irish batters, who could not get their act together after losing two wickets in the third over. All-rounder Hardik Pandya (3-27) and Jasprit Bumrah (2-6) followed up to keep the pressure on Ireland.
Starting on a positive note
Skipper Rohit Shama, after some early scares, brought all his experience to the fore to score a half-century to ensure that the Men in Blue started on a positive note in the one-month long tournament.
Only four Ireland batsmen reached double figures, Gareth Delany top-scoring for 26 before he was run out as the innings ended with exactly four overs still left.
Once again a drop-in pitch of variable bounce at a Long Island ground built specially for the tournament, where both Sri Lanka and South Africa had struggled for runs on Monday, made life tough for the batsmen. However, it will be the same pitch that will be hosting the India-Pakistan match on June 9, which could make the life extremely difficult for the Indian batters against an attack that has some real threatening pacers.
While the move to push Virat Kohli up the order gave skipper Rohit Sharma a great depth in both batting and bowling, with four specialist all-rounders, who are the key to success in the shorter formats. But a similar pitch will expose both Kohli and Rohit Sharma to the new ball and the early success will give Pakistan the extra energy.
Kohli's rare failure
Kohli, who opened for the 10th time for India, tasted a rare failure after getting caught at third man in the third over.
Despite Kohli‘s failure the Indian team scored plenty of brownie points. The return of Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, who is now relishing the No 3 role, and all-rounder Pandya, who made the most of the conditions to claim three wickets, has made this team a strong unit with a batting depth until No 8 and seven bowlers, including Shivam Dube.
“When you come here and the ball is seaming around with some bounce and pace, I would never complain. You have to be proactive, you can’t pre-empt things. You realise how the wicket is and then go back to find what works for you. Once the seam goes down, the pitch does settle down. You have to be prepared to bowl in all conditions, so very happy today,” Bumrah told the official broadcasters after receiving his player of the match award.
After Rohit Sharma retired due to soreness, Suryakumar Yadav missed out on a chance to get some valuable batting. Pant’s audacious reverse sweep off pacer Barry McCarthy gave the needed six runs for India with the left-hander remaining unbeaten on 36.
The Indian captain allayed fears on the injury and said it is nothing major but a “little soreness.”
Open to making changes to team
“New ground, new venue, wanted to see what’s it like to play on. I don’t think the pitch settled down, there was enough there for the bowlers. Good to get the points,” Rohit Sharma said. “You have to stick to your basics, think about Test match bowling. Arshdeep can swing the ball into the right-handers and that set the tone. Don’t think we can play four spinners here.”
India played five seamers, including Pandya and Dubey along with Arsheep Singh, Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah.
“If the conditions are there for the seamers, we wanted them in the squad. The spinners will play their part later in the tournament. We are open to making changes to the team’s needs.”
Talking about the next match against Pakistan, Rohit Sharma said: “I don’t know what to expect from the pitch, but we will prepare as if conditions are going to be like that. That will be a game where all XI of us need to come together and contribute. It was scratchy but good to spend time in the middle, hopefully we can do the same against Pakistan.”
