Trent Bridge, June 11: Zaheer Khan wreaked havoc while Rohit Sharma continued his purple patch as a ruthless India decimated Ireland by eight wickets in a rain-marred Group A tie of the Twenty20 World Cup on Wednesday.
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Zaheer Khan (4/19) led the rout as India restricted a hapless Ireland to a mere 112 for eight in 18 overs and then went on to overwhelm the target in 15.3 overs with Rohit (52 not out) and Gautam Gambhir (37) making merry against the toothless Irish attack.
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Put into bat after persistent rain had truncated the tie to an 18-overs-a-side affair, Ireland could not recover from Zaheer’s early three-wicket burst and only four players managed double digit scores as the minnows barely crawled past the 100-mark.
With both the sides having already made it to the Super Eight stage, nothing really was at stake but India captain Mahendra Singh meant serious business when he walked out with the full-strength team.
And chasing a paltry 113 from 18 overs, India hardly broke a sweat with Gambhir and Rohit going great guns.
Gambhir cut the first ball from Boyd Rankin through covers for a four to signal his intention. The left-hander came dancing down the track to hit Kevin O’Brien through covers and then upper-cut Rankin over third man for a stunning six.
At the other end, Rohit was not silent either. The right-hander paddle-scooped Alex Cusack for a four and then chipped him to a similar effect.
The opening stand had yielded 77 runs when Gambhir perished at backward point in the 11th over.
An undeterred Rohit smacked Rankin over mid-wicket for a huge six to inch closer to the target and even though Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s (14) was a brief stay, India’s win was just a matter of formality which Rohit and Yuvraj Singh (3 not out) completed with ease.
Earlier, Zaheer showed Ireland up as doddering novices as he helped India restrict the opponents to a mere 112 for 8.
Andrew White was the lone face of Irish resistance, top scoring with a 25-ball 29.
The left-arm paceman steamed in on a rainy day to hustle out four Irish batsmen, three off seven balls in his first spell of two overs.
Zaheer took a wicket off his sixth, seventh and 12th deliveries, two off catches in first slip to reduce Ireland to 17 for three in four overs.
Pragyan Ojha then struck off his first delivery in the seventh over and Harbhajan Singh too joined the fun as Ireland’s score read 48 for five in the 10th over.
The first boundary in the Ireland’s innings came in the fourth over and there were in all only nine fours, besides a six, hit.
From the time Dhoni won the toss and chose to field, the defending champions kept a tight hold on the proceedings.
Zaheer bowled the second over but things soon began to happen in India’s favour.
Ireland’s opening pair mostly connected air as they tried to swish outside the off-stump but to no success.
Jeremy Bray then completely misread the line of an incoming Zaheer delivery to have his middle and leg stumps knocked back for no runs from seven balls.
The left-arm paceman put himself in line for a hat-trick when he had the other opener William Porterfield edge a catch to Yusuf Pathan in the slips.
Before Zaheer’s second over was out, Andre Botha too fell in the same manner but not before he had square cut the left-arm paceman for the first boundary of the innings.
Ojha was pressed into service in the seventh over and obliged off his first delivery when Kevin O’ Brien under-edged a pull on to his stumps.
Harbhajan had to wait till his second over before Gary Wilson (19) failed to read his ‘doosra’ and lost stump.
Ireland then lost their sixth and seven wicket for the addition of one run only.
John Mooney (19) reverse swept Ojha uppishly into the hands of Yuvraj Singh at short fine leg and Regan West was run out by a direct throw by Suresh Raina from mid-on.
Left-arm spinner Ojha increased his tally of wickets to six from two matches, his haul in the present innings reading 2 for 19 from allotted four overs.
–Agencies