Quest begins in style

NEW YORK: India began its quest for a first global trophy since 2013 in style with an eight-wicket rout of Ireland in its first group match here on Wednesday. Set to chase a modest target of 97, India got there in 12.2 overs with captain Rohit Sharma scoring 52 (37b, 4x4, 3x6) before getting retired hurt. He received good support from Rishabh Pant who made an unbeaten 36 (26b, 3x4, 2x6) as the duo added 54 runs for the second wicket.

Earlier, India’s quartet of fast bowlers were simply menacing on a pitch offering variable bounce and seam movement dismantling Ireland for a lowly 96. Arshdeep Singh (2/35 in 4 overs), Mohammed Siraj (1/13 in 3 overs), Jasprit Bumrah (2/6 in 3 overs) and Hardik Pandya (3/27 in 4 overs) didn’t give any breathing space to Irish batters who were made to look like novices in front of swing, seam and extra bounce that the four-pronged attack produced during the 14 out of 16 overs they bowled.

Such was their plight that none of the Irish batters save one --- Gareth Delany (26 n.o, 14 balls) could even cross 20-run mark individually. Delany’s innings took them close to the 100-run mark.

Rohit Sharma was lucky with the coin and the overcast conditions were just the kind of help Arshdeep needed first up as he bowled an ideal Test match length with the white Kookaburra.

Most of his deliveries were pitched up and reared up from length making life miserable for the seasoned duo of Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie.

It only helped that Mohammed Siraj also kept up the relentless pressure from the other end as the two openers found it difficult to even put bat on balls that were jagging around allowing Rishabh Pant to dive full stretch on both sides of the track.

Stirling tried to pull one which climbed up on him from good length and Pant ran backwards to pouch the skier.

For Balbirnie, his ‘one-leg’ stance turned out to be a wrong strategy to counter Arshdeep as he bowled one that was pitched on middle and moved a shade towards off with the batter with no footwork unable to cover the line of the swing.

The Powerplay gone horribly wrong at 26 for 2 for Ireland, and there was no coming back for them.

Pandya as the second change pacer bowled a perfect nip-backer with a wobbly seam to breach through Lorcan Tucker’s defence.

Bumrah then scarred an already rattled Harry Tector with a nasty bouncer that took his gloves and almost blew away his head lobbing off the helmet.

At the halfway stage, Ireland, which recently beat Pakistan in a T20I at home, was 49 for 6 and the match had already become lopsided.

Brief scores: Ireland 96 in 16 overs (H Pandya 3/27) lost to India 97/2 in 12.2 overs (R Sharma 52 retired hurt)