India captain Rohit Sharma led from the front with an impressive half-century before retiring hurt to guide his team to an eight-wicket victory over Ireland in their opening T20 World Cup group match in New York.
After 14 wickets had fallen for 157 runs in the first match on the temporary drop-in pitch when South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets, India bowled Ireland out for 96 with four overs to spare.
Rohit helped allay fears the pitches imported from Adelaide were too helpful to the quicker bowlers, however, easing his way to 52 from 37 balls with three sixes and four fours ahead of one of the most anticipated games of the tournament against Pakistan on Sunday.
However, another challenging New York pitch has again come in for criticism, with Ireland’s low score the second sub-100 first innings score in a row at the venue, after South Africa bowled Sri Lanka out for just 77 earlier in the week.
The uneven bounce saw batters from both sides cop body blows, with fears the blockbuster India-Pakistan match scheduled for the venue on Sunday (AEST) will turn into a farce given both sides boast powerful pace attacks.
Mark Adair. (Photo by Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
“That is not a good surface to play an international match on,” former England coach Andy Flower said on ESPNcricinfo.
“It’s bordering on dangerous. You saw the ball bouncing from a length both ways, so skidding low occasionally, but in the main bouncing unusually high and striking people on the thumb, on the gloves, on the helmet, and making life very difficult for any batsman.
“The Indian quicks were good enough to exploit it, you’ve got to give that to them… it proved very, very tricky batting conditions for any side, let alone a smaller cricketing nation like Ireland taking on the giants of India.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan posted on X that the surface was ‘shocking’ and ‘substandard’.
The pitch is set to host two more matches in the next week.
After Rohit won the toss on an overcast morning, Ireland were immediately in trouble as they slumped to six for 46.
Only Gareth Delaney offered any real defiance in the face of an attack in which fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was again virtually unplayable, capturing two for six from his three overs and beating all the batters in the air or off the pitch.
Delaney, batting at No. 7, scored 26 from 14 balls including a four and six from consecutive balls from left-arm paceman Arshdeep Singh before he was run out. Only three other Ireland players reached double figures.
After Virat Kohli had been quickly dismissed for one, Rishabh Pant (36 not out) batted with typical impudence, scoring the winning runs with a reverse sweep for six.
Bumrah, named man-of-the-match, said the ball had initially seamed around with pace and bounce.
“Once the seam goes down the pitch does settle down,” he said. “You have to be prepared to bowl in all conditions.”