ICC World Cup : India Tuesday Takes On Ireland , Look To Repeat Victory March
09 March, Hamilton
In a Pool B encounter India will take on Ireland at Hamilton tomorrow Tuesday . India are on top of Pool B with eight points and they have a strong chance of finishing on top.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men are expected to beat Ireland and Zimbabwe and advance with full points from the six matches. Another run fest is on the cards as India prepare to take on Ireland.
Meanwhile ,with the win at the Adelaide Oval in a Pool A match, Bangladesh cleared the path for Sri Lanka to join New Zealand and Australia from their pool in the last eight. New Zealand are sitting pretty at the top with 10 points, while Bangladesh and Australia have seven points each.
After completing their Australia leg of the group phase, India travel to New Zealand to play their last two World Cup Pool B matches, the first against Ireland at the Seddon Park here.
The Irish team has been the most impressive and consistent among all Associate members with three wins in four matches.
Though their only loss came against powerhouse South Africa, they have beaten two Test playing nations — the West Indies and Zimbabwe. To add to that they also beat another Associate, the United Arab Emirates.
With India already qualified for the quarterfinals and South Africa also likely to join them, it will be an open fight between Ireland, Pakistan and the West Indies for the last two berths left in the pool.
To secure a spot, they would have to come out with the goods against the defending champions India, or later versus Pakistan.
Though India’s batting order is pretty solid, Windies bowlers showed that they are nevertheless brittle, which Ireland would like to exploit.
However, on the positive side for India, Irish bowlers have not been as good as their batsmen, having been hammered for 300 plus totals thrice in four matches. However, India are alien to New Zealand conditions, having played all their four matches in Australia and the minnows could try and make use
of that.
Ireland’s batting has been splendid in this tournament with the entire line-up getting runs with opener Ed Joyce scoring the only century for their team in this World Cup against Zimbabwe.
India, on the other hand, would like to maintain their winning run. They have now won eight consecutive Cup matches, equalling their longest streak in 2003. The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side would like to get used to the conditions, in case it plays its knockouts in Kiwi land.
It was important that Dhoni also got some time out in the middle when he guided India to victory against the Windies from a precarious position.
As mentioned before, though Indian batsman have come out good in quadrennial the tournament, the Windies game showed there is room for much improvement.
Meanwhile, India’s bowling, traditionally considered their weak point, has gone from strength-to strength and is looking impeccable. Seamers and spinners alike, they have been in top form and have been able bowl out the opposition in all four matches. But there is a chance that they might go for runs, considering the form of the Irish batsmen and short boundaries at the Seddon Park, like most New Zealand grounds.
With big hitters like skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina in the team, the bowlers might find it difficult to contain them with short side boundaries as well
as the straight ones.