India’s commanding eight-wicket victory over Ireland in their opening match of the T20 World Cup on Wednesday was overshadowed by Captain Rohit Sharma’s unexpected upper arm injury.
The loss of Rohit is a cause for concern for Men in Blue as they approach the Pakistan game on June 9. However, having scored a well-constructed half-century (52 off 37 balls), the Mumbai batsman had to walk back after misjudging a pull shot against pacer Josh Little from Gujarat Titans and experiencing excruciating pain from contact with his right upper arm during that moment.
However, despite finding themselves on an unaccustomed drop-in pitch with uneven bounce and excessive seam movement, India’s pace quartet lacked their best form. Ireland were bowled out for 96 runs in just 16 overs by Arshdeep Singh and a resurgent Hardik Pandya.
They strangled the Irishmen by swinging, seaming and bouncing it everywhere Ireland but particularly going through swing, seam or extra bounce lengths that made even seasoned Indian batters look amateurish as they survived only two out of sixteen overs.
Delany’s innings pushed Ireland closer to the hundred-run mark besides Gareth Delany’s valiant effort (26 n.o.,14 balls).
Rohit used his trademark pull shots to please the crowd while driving India to win with 12.2 balls remaining. While Suryakumar Yadav (2) and Virat Kohli(1) missed out on batting practice sessions, Rishabh Pant (36 n.o.) at No.3 showed promise in his maiden knock.
The enthusiastic Indian fans who took time off mid-week returned home fulfilled.
However, there were concerns about playing conditions and variable bounce at Nassau County ahead of an anticipated India vs Pakistan match three days later.
Rohit was hit on his forearm which caused him severe pain; pant also faced discomfort in his forearm and knuckles. This was evidence that there were balls leaving the surface at a length as well as few bouncing above knee roll, which caused alarms for all batters.
The conditions favored Arshdeep in Rohit’s fortuitous toss win with overhead clouds and he bowled a Test match ideal length with the white Kookaburra to rattle experienced pair Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie.
At the other end Mohammed Siraj kept up pressure on openers making it difficult for them to handle the moving balls, enabling Pant to dive full stretch on both sides of the track.
Stirling went for a pull shot off a good length delivery which was taken by pant while Arshdeep’s delivery pitched middle moved slightly towards off and Balbirnie failed in his one-legged stance.
Their powerplay innings thus ended fatally at 26/2.
Coming in second change, Pandya dismantled Lorcan Tucker with an out swinger while Bumrah scared H Tector with his dangerous bouncer that almost knocked off his helmet
Ireland stood at 49/6 halfway through, having just defeated Pakistan in a T20I series at their own soil thereby sealing game result effectively.
Pandya’s most outstanding performance of the match was bowling four complete overs during which he produced variety in lengths that allowed his captain enough room to choose future games lineups.
Pandya took three wickets each highlighting three different aspects –swing, seam, and extra bounce.
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