Published: Mar 10, 2015, 01:15 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 10, 2015, 02:42 PM (IST)
Hamilton: India romped home to their ninth consecutive victory in the ICC Cricket World Cup by beating Ireland by eight wickets at Seddon Park, Hamilton. With this victory, they maintain their spot at the top of the table in Group B and will maintain their hold over that spot. This is also the first time that India have bowled out the opposition in five consecutive games at the World Cup. With this win, India remain at the top spot in the World Cup 2015 Points Table.
Chasing 260 to win, India were never troubled. Ireland’s bowling woes continued as their attack looked short of class in the contest against the Indian batting. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan put up a strong 174-run opening stand in under 24 overs, which put India on course to victory. Both batsmen dominated the paces and spinners, clearing the boundary as many as eight times. Dhawan got to his eighth One-Day International (ODI) ton, while Rohit was dismissed for 64. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane came together and knocked off the remained of the runs. Shikhar Dhawan scores 8th ODI century
Earlier, William Porterfield won the toss and chose to bat first, which was quite an obvious choice given the nature of the surface. And, the captain put the positive foot forward by getting his side off to a good start. Both Porterfield and Paul Stirling were attacking to begin with. Both played some remarkable pull shots off short deliveries to signal their intent. They had raced to 89 in 15 overs before Stirling fell for 42. Rohit Sharma completes 4,000 runs in ODIs
From Stirling’s dismissal to Porterfield’s exit in the 32nd over, Ireland slowed down thanks to the spinners, scoring only 56 runs. Even Niall O’Brien had problems in adjusting and it was only after Porterfield’s dismissal that he got going. O’Brien’s knock of 75 was a joy to watch as he fearlessly went over the top and cleared the ground three times. Ireland had crossed 200 in under 40 overs, having lost only three wickets. That is when India fought back and limited Ireland for 259, as they were bowled out in the penultimate over. Once O’Brien was out, their hopes of getting 300 faded away. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane bring up 50-run stand
India’s bowlers shared the honours on the day, but a lot of the credit has to go to Ravichandran Ashwin, whose spell of two for 39 helped India fight back after the opening stand and get back in the game. Mohammed Shami took three wickets and was economical to back Ashwin’s effort at the end. India will now travel to Auckland, which is about a two-hour drive from Hamilton, for their final league game against Zimbabwe. Ireland fly to Adelaide as they will face Pakistan in a make or break game. Ireland set 260-run target against India in ICC Cricket World Cup Pool B match at Hamilton
Brief scores:
Ireland 259 in 49 overs (William Porterfield 67, Niall O’Brien 75; Mohammed Shami 3 for 41, Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 39) lost to India 260 for 2 in 36.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 64, Shikhar Dhawan 100, Virat Kohli 44*, Ajinkya Rahane 33*; Stuart Thompson 2 for 45) by 8 wickets.
Man of the Match: Shikhar Dhawan
(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_45)
