 India thrash Ireland by 9 wickets
24th Jun 2007 13:57 IST
Agencies
Earlier, rookie leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh produced tidy bowling spells as India restricted Ireland to a modest total.
Chawla, who made his ODI debut last month against Bangladesh, picked up 3/29 and his Uttar Pradesh teammate RP Singh grabbed 2/36 to help the visitors gain the upper hand.
Right arm pacer S Sreesanth also picked three wickets but was expensive, conceding 50 runs.
The Irish innings revolved around a defiant half-century by wicketkeeper-batsman Niall O Brien who struck a confident 52.
O'Brien, who hit four fours in his 77-ball knock, shared a vital 48-run stand for the seventh wicket with captain Trent Johnston to boost the scoreboard which was reading a sorry 111/6 at one stage.
Johnston made a relatively quickfire 34 off 44 balls including two hits over the fence.
Put in to bat, the hosts struggled to get going under overcast conditions.
Sreesanth provided the opening breakthrough, having Kenneth Carroll caught behind when the batsman snicked a high delivery in the fourth over.
But the Indian bowlers failed to exploit the conditions as William Porterfield (16) and Dominick Joyce (18) added 33 runs for the second wicket.
Ajit Agarkar then castled Porterfield and Sreesanth accounted for Joyce.
Chawla then struck twice to reduced Ireland to 83/5.
The leg-spinner dismissed Kevin O Brien (13) and Gary Wilson (3) in the space of nine balls.
Chawla, who had picked three wickets also in the only ODI he has played before, then sent back all-rounder Andrew White (8).
But the Indians failed to deliver the killer punch and allowed things to drift.
29 extras, including 16 wides, marked the visitors' casual approach.
Niall O'Brien, Ireland's hero at the World Cup, capitalised the slackness to earn his fourth half-century.
With Johnston providing some much needed urgency, the tail wagged long enough for Ireland to post a total to defend.
Earlier, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to field.
India were without wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni and pacer Zaheer Khan while Rohit Sharma made his international debut.
Dhoni suffered an unspecified injury while Zaheer was yet to recover fully from the groin injury he suffered in the Afro-Asian Cup. |
