Thaindian News

Bangalore, March 5 (IANS) Ireland’s World Cup match against India here Sunday has acquired greater significance after their sensational victory over England.

India cannot afford to take the Irish lightly and will have to be truly professional on the field. Their outcricket has to improve if they have to prevent recurrence of lapses in the field in particular, failing which they may meet England’s fate despite running up a big score.

Ireland, on the other hand, would be pumped up to go out to the park hoping to pull off another upset. Their victory against England should have given Ireland an enormous boost in confidence, and a good chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage. They scalped Pakistan in 2007 World Cup and after slaying England Wednesday, Ireland have only enhanced their reputation of a fearless outfit who are out there to prove a point.

The limelight will be as much on the man who the other night struck the fastest World Cup century. Kevin O’ Brien’s century cleared the path for their side to chase a 328 victory target after being at a precarious 111 for five. HOwever, it is one thing to wield the willow in front of a sizeable crowd, and another to produce your best with 40,000 vocal supporters behind India.

“We are well aware of India’s strengths in batting and bowling, with world class openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar and world class bowlers Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. No rival team can take them for granted,” said O’Brien.

The Irish all-rounder, however, spoke with the new found confidence that the team will carry on to the field.

“We lost to Bangladesh narrowly (by 27 runs), but our dramatic victory over the English gave us tremendous confidence that we can play against any team, chase over 300-run target and pull off a win,” he said.

After their match against England, Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that nothing much can be done with the fielding. The bowlers need to tighten their grip. India scored 370 against Bangladesh in the first match and the bowlers conceded 283 runs. Against England, the batsmen raised 338, yet they were on the verge of losing. Dhoni was quick to point out that scoring more than 300 will not be possible every time they go out to bat.

The last two matches have seen two thrilling contests, astonishing 600-plus totals, exhilarating bowling, and some match-winning knocks. Excitement will be at a high pitch when the two teams clash Sunday. Who knows M. Chinnaswamy Stadium may hold another twist in the tale.

Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, S. Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, R. Ashwin, Ashish Nehra.

Ireland: William Porterfield (captain), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, Ed Joyce, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Andrew White, Gary Wilson.