Story India's Journey to bring the World Cup back in India - Day five of World T20

[shantanu_rooney]

Last updated: 9th June, 2009

India v Ireland Preview

Pragyan Ojha, Venkatesh Prasad and Ishant Sharama share a joke in training​

Match facts
Wednesday, June 10
Start time 1730 local

Big Picture
India and Bangladesh have both qualified for the Super Eights and their groups are also decided, so it means that this match is a dead rubber match for both the teams. But India won't want to go to the next round with a shock defeat, nor will Ireland want to go home without a fight and winning their first game of the tournament after losing to Bangladesh.

India go into the tougher Super Eights group and will look at this game as a chance to iron out any flaws they feel exist. As it is they will probably be the least tested team in the Super Eights, with Ireland the third team in the weak Group A. India have been hurt by Virender Sehwag's injury during training and will need to put that aside immediately.

Team News
Rohit Sharma will play as a makeshift opener in place of Virender Sehwag who injured himself during the nets session yesterday. Staying with injuries, India could choose to rest Zaheer Khan, who was seen nursing his shoulder with an ice pack on Monday and didn't come to Tuesday's nets. If they do rest Zaheer, either Praveen Kumar or RP Singh could take his place.

India: (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Praveen Kumar/RP Singh/Zaheer Khan, 11 Ishant Sharma

Niall O'Brien and Kyle McCallan's injuries are not as bad as it were originally feared, so they could play tomorrow.

Ireland: (probable) 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Jeremy Bray, 3 Niall O'Brien (wk), 4 Gary Wilson, 5 John Mooney, 5 Kevin O'Brien, 7 Trent Johnston, 8 Kyle McCallan, 9 Regan West, 10 Alex Cusack, 11 Boyd Rankin.

Watch Out for....
Ravindra Jadeja, who made his name in the Indian Premier League with both the bat and the ball could be the allrounder that the Indians were looking for years. His ability to score quick runs and bowling brilliantly in the middle overs is what India needs.

Keep an eye out for the O'Brien brothers. They both have the ability to score some very important runs in quick time and that could be the important factor in tomorrow's game against the Indians.

Pitch and conditions
Trent Bridge has been a high-scoring venue, helping spinners in the initial stages of the tournament. The weather was cloudy on Tuesday, is expected to be same on match day, with rain unlikely.​

 

[Biggy]

India will just be too strong. (Go Ireland!)

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Last updated: 10th June, 2009

Indians win against Ireland

Gambhir contributed 41​

Defending champions India warmed up for Friday's Super Eight showdown against West Indies with a seven-wicket win over out going Ireland.

Ireland 146 all-out in 19.4 overs (Naill O'Brien 36, John Mooney 19 ; Zaheer Khan 3/42, Irfan Pathan 2/21) lost to India 147/3 in 18.5 overs (Gautam Gambhir 41, Rohit Sharma 36 ; Alex Cusack 2/28 , Trent Johnston 1/28) by 7 wickets.

The ICC World Twenty20 Championship holders made it two wins from two in this years ICC Twenty20 tournament, chasing down a target of 147 with seven balls to spare.

Openers Gautam Gambhir (41) and Rohit Sharma (38), drafted in for the injured Virender Sehwag, shared an opening stand of 67. Skipper MS Dhoni then made the most of his promotion up to number three, hitting 41 from 29 balls, before Suresh Raina came in to finish the match in style with a six over mid-wicket.

Ireland had earlier hit plenty of maximums themselves, particularly in the opening overs as they came out all guns blazing. They slammed their first 60 runs in just 26 balls, with Naill O'Brien leading the charge as he made a rapid 38, which included five fours and two sixes.

But he was also one of four wickets to go down in that time as the Irish either hit out or got out. Gary Wilson lasted only three deliveries, hitting a six and a four before becoming one of Zaheer Khan's three victims. Irfan Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja also picked up two scalps as the Ireland innings came to an end after 19.4 overs.

The Indian then showed their opponents how to pace an innings, on their way to a victory that means they finish on top of Group A. Bangladesh play New Zealand tomorrow before India face West Indies on Friday.​

 

[Gary123]

2 in 2 now for defending champs.
Good going by Indians.
Gambhir did pretty well there.
I love the presentation here.
Nice,clean and effective.
KIU Shan.

 

[Harishan]

Good win there by India, good all round performance. The Irish did put up a pretty good fight but 146 is a very tough total to defend.

Nice presentation Shan.

 

[yashwanth kumar]

Good win there by India, good all round performance Congrats Dhoni and Co