WESTBURY, New York (AP) — Jasprit Bumrah and India’s pace attack did most of the damage before Rohit Sharma scored a 37-ball half-century to steer the team to an eight-wicket win over Ireland on Wednesday at the Twenty20 World Cup.
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 snared 2-6 in three overs and left-armer Arshdeep Singh returned 2-35, with pace accounting for eight of the 10 Irish wickets.
India next plays fierce cricket rival Pakistan in the marquee match of the league stage on Sunday.
“Early wickets set the tone for us,” Sharma said. “It was good to spend time on this wicket, although it didn’t change too much in the second innings. We will prepare for the Pakistan game as if the conditions will be similar.”
In Wednesday’s two later games, Uganda won the toss and sent Papua New Guinea in to bat at Guyana and Oman chose to bowl first against 2021 champion Australia at Barbados. Australia holds two of the three biggest trophies in cricket after winning the World Test Championship and the 50-over World Cup last year.
India took four fast bowlers into its tournament-opening game against Ireland, noting the inconsistent bounce in the pitch at the same venue where South Africa routed Sri Lanka two days earlier.
It paid off immediately, with India winning the toss and Arshdeep Singh causing havoc under overcast conditions against Ireland’s openers. He bowled Andrew Balbirnie for five and had Paul Stirling caught behind to have Ireland reeling at 9-2 at the end of the third over.
He was wayward in his four-over spell, though, which contributed for nearly a third of Ireland’s total runs.
Pandya went in as first change and struck immediately, bowling Loran Tucker for 10 and having Curtis Campher caught behind for 12.
In between, Bumrah had Harry Tector caught for four. Ireland slumped to 50-8 after 11.2 overs as Pandya struck again twice.
Gareth Delany provided some resistance and top-scored with 26, hitting two fours and two sixes. He was the only Irish batter to cross the 20-run mark and put on 27 runs with Joshua Little (14) for the ninth wicket, which allowed Ireland to get near 100.
In a top-order shuffle, former skipper Virat Kohli opened the innings with Sharma but the move backfired when he was caught at third man attacking Mark Adair (1-27).
Ireland’s pacers also got purchase from the pitch surface, making life tough for both Sharma and Pant. Both batters were hit on their elbows and upper arms.
India’s second-wicket pair added 54 off 44 balls before Sharma retired hurt after being struck on the right arm from Joshua Little.
The only other wicket to fall for India was Suryakumar Yadav, who was caught in the deep for two runs.
Returning to international action after a gap of nearly 18 months since a car accident in late 2022, Pant finished off the match with a reverse-hit six over the slip cordon.
