India did not sweat in making a short work of feeble and pale Ireland players, who looked so dominant against Bangladesh few days back romping their way to super eight. Even though India lost Virender Shewag services for the entire tournament, the openers Rohit Sharma and Gambhir, rose to occasion admiringly.
Earlier one witnessed wet start to the match in Nottingham due to some showers and the match was curtailed to eighteen overs per side. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who won the toss put the opposition in bat, to tackle any further rain, which was forecasted.
It came as a perfect setting for Zaheer khan, who has been returing from shoulder injury to strike some valuable form before super eight and he bowled impressively with new ball, which could have delighted the captain, as super eight is around the corner.
But the biggest disappointment is the bowling of Irfan Pathan, who was treated with disdain by the inexperienced Irish batsmen but Zaheer made sure there is no damage done to their repuatation as he removed three Irish top order batsmen to work on their collapse.
Ojha, who was handed over the ball before Harbhajan Singh proved once again his mettle, where he bowled a very tight line and Harbhajan Singh also fared well for the defending champions, as they made run scoring an arduous task.
Ireland sorely missed Neil O Brein, one of the star in their previous win and Kevin O Brein flopped big time leaving them to end up facing an humiliating situation but White and Mooney made sure they post a total in excess of hundred and Ireland ended up with a paltry score of one hundred and eighteen runs losing all their wickets in eighteen overs.
Ireland bowlers looked bread and butter for new opening duo of India namely Rohit Sharma and Guatham Gambhir, who scripted a fine half – century partnership once again to give a rollicking start to their team.
Ireland bowling looked feeble without their premier bowler Johnston and slower ball bowlers namely Mc Callan and White managed to remove Gautham Gambhir and Dhoni but the target was too meagre to pose any challenge to this mammoth batting line – up and Rohit Sharma along with Yuvraj finished the formalties to hand over a convincing victory for India.
Zaheer khan was named man of the match for his impressive bowling spell, which proved too hot for Irish to fiddle with.
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