Jasprit Bumrah and India’s pacers did most of the damage before Rohit Sharma scored a 37-ball half-century to steer the team to an eight-wicket 2024 T20 World Cup win over Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Wednesday.
Sharma plundered four boundaries and three sixes before retiring hurt for 52. Rishabh Pant added 36 not out off 26 balls as India reached 97 for 2 in 12.2 overs after routing Ireland for 96.
Allrounder Hardik Pandya took 3-27 for India while Bumrah (2-6) and left-armer Arshdeep Singh (2-35) chimed in to ensure pace accounted for eight of the 10 Irish wickets.
After the end of the match, India skipper said his team were not sure about how to about play on the drop-in pitch at the Long Island ground.
“Look, I said it at the toss as well. We were quite unsure of what to expect from the pitch. It’s a new ground, a new venue, with a dropping pitch. We weren’t really aware of what it would be like to play on a pitch that’s just five months old. It was all about getting used to the conditions, which is why we wanted to bowl first and see how the pitch plays. I don’t think the wicket settled down even when we batted second. It was enough for the bowlers, but overall, I thought getting those two points was important,” Rohit told the boradcasters.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to stick to the basics. Think about bowling in Test match cricket and try to hit those lengths consistently. We spoke about it— all these guys have played a lot of Test cricket. Arshdeep Singh is the only guy who hasn’t played Test cricket. But with the new ball up front, swinging the ball back into the right-handers can make a difference, and his two wickets upfront were something that set the tone for us heading into the game,” he added.
India next plays fierce cricket rival Pakistan in the marquee match of the league stage on Sunday.
“I don’t know what to expect from the pitch, to be honest. But we will prepare as if the conditions will be similar. We’ve got a few days before we play that game. We just need to regroup and understand what each one needs to do because this is going to be the kind of day where all 11 of us need to come together and contribute in whatever way we can,” Rohit said.
