India vs Ireland: Men in Blue begin T20 World Cup journey with focus on top-order

It will be the beginning of the end of an era in Indian cricket when the Men in Blue take on Ireland in their opening match of the 2024 T20 World Cup in New York City on Wednesday.

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The Group A fixture, after all, will commence India’s campaign at a tournament that will be former India captain
Rahul Dravid’s final assignment as head coach
along with the fact that the tournament is also perhaps the last time fans get to witness Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli play a World Cup together.

The Men in Blue, additionally, have not been able to add to their T20 World Cup triumph in the inaugural edition in 2007, or win an ICC title since the 2013 Champions Trophy for that matter, coming within an inch of ending that jinx in last year’s ODI World Cup at home.

Team India, therefore, will be hungrier than ever, looking to give their best shot knowing they cannot afford to take any team lightly — whether it is arch-rivals Pakistan or minnows USA and Canada. And especially Ireland, a team known to spring a surprise in big events.

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India had registered a thumping 60-run victory over Bangladesh
in their only warm-up match, which took place at the same venue where India will play their first three matches of the group stage — New York’s recently-inaugurated
Nassau County International Stadium
.

The clinical performance against Najmul Hossain and Co in all three departments helped captain Rohit and coach Dravid get a better understanding of what their combination should look like.

Focus on Rohit’s opening partner, all-rounders

The key talking point as far as the Indian team is concerned is their top order with focus on Rohit’s opening partner and the No 3 slot. In an experimental move during the warm-up match, Rohit had walked out to open the innings with Sanju Samson, who had been picked as the second wicketkeeper-batter in the squad. Samson, however, hardly impressed and was dismissed for 1 after facing five deliveries.

Neither Kohli nor Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is making his maiden World Cup appearance, had featured in the warm-up and it is those two who are the primary candidates of the second opener’s slot. And who the Men in Blue go with on Wednesday will not only have a major impact on the balance of their lineup, it will also likely be their preferred combination for the remainder of the tournament.

Jaiswal has been impressive in both Tests and T20Is since he made his debut during India’s tour of the Caribbean last year, scoring 502 runs in 17 appearances for India in the shortest format at an impressive strike rate of 161.93. The southpaw is a specialist opener and had been batting at the top in T20Is since the five-match series against Australia after the ODI World Cup.

At the same time, having Kohli open the innings alongside Rohit allows Rishabh Pant to bat above Suryakumar Yadav at the No 3 slot and free up a slot in the middle order, giving Rohit and Rahul room to bring in an additional all-rounder. Kohli bats as an opener for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL and had recently finished as the season’s leading run-scorer (741) at a strike rate of 154.69.

Jaiswal’s inclusion certainly gives India the advantage of a left-hand-right-hand opening combination and perhaps a more attacking option alongside Rohit. While Kohli’s inclusion gives India a more consistent run-scorer at the top while giving the team more flexibility with their XI.

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Rohit, additionally, had emphasised on the importance of Team India making proper utilisation of their all-rounders on the eve of their match against Ireland. India had included seamers Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube, the former being named vice-captain, as well left-arm finger-spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, and skipper Rohit did not rule out the possibility of including all four in the lineup at some point in the tournament, if not against the Irishmen on Wednesday.

“If you want to create a good balance in a team, you need a lot of all-rounders. In fast-bowling all-rounders we have Hardik and Dube while Jadeja and Axar give us options in the spin department.

“We have seen how big a role all-rounders can play in T20 cricket. Not just in T20 cricket, but in all formats. Their role will be more than the rest of the players,”
Rohit told reporters
in the pre-match press conference.

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Given the nature of the New York wicket and how seamers have thrived at the newly-constructed venue, with
Anrich Nortje bouncing back to form
with a clinical 4/7 against Sri Lanka on Monday, it won’t be too far-fetched to assume the Men in Blue will be looking to include both Pandya and Dube in the XI. Especially after Pandya’s unbeaten 40 off 23 balls and Dube’s two wickets in consecutive deliveries in the warm-up.

Expect Kohli to walk out at the start of the innings for that to happen on Wednesday.

Ireland confident of an upset

Ireland will be hoping to challenge the might Indians by putting up a proper fight even if they enter Wednesday’s clash as the underdogs.

The Paul Stirling-led side, after all, know a thing or two about causing upsets against higher-ranked teams in the big tournaments. The Irishmen had handed Pakistan the knockout punch in the 2007 ODI World Cup and pulled off a memorable chase against England in Bengaluru four years later. They would vanquish their ‘Old Enemy’ in the T20 World Cup as well, in a rain-affected clash in Melbourne in 2022.

Ireland are yet to defeat India in any format
, having lost all three ODI meetings against the Men in Blue as well as seven out of eight T20I meetings since they first met in the 2009 ICC World T20. The only time they managed to avoid a defeat against India was when the third T20I during the Jasprit Bumrah-led Indian team’s tour of Ireland last year ended in a washout without a ball bowled.

There were also a couple of occasions where Ireland had given India a proper scare. Andy Balbirnie and skipper Stirling’s whirlwind knocks of 60 (37) and 40 (18) respectively had nearly helped the home team chase down an improbable 226-run target set by the Men in Blue in Malahide in the summer of 2022.

On Wednesday, it is the experienced duo of Stirling and Balbirnie, who have more than a hundred appearances for Ireland in each white ball format, who will be hoping to lead Ireland’s charge when they walk out to open the innings. Balbirnie, additionally, has the best T20I record against India among Irish batters, having scored 156 runs in six appearances at a strike rate of 138.05. He had also played a starring role in
Ireland’s five-wicket victory over Pakistan
last month with a knock of 77 off 55 balls against an attack comprising Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan.

They’ll have similar expectations from Mark Adair in the bowling department with the seam-bowling all-rounder their most consistent wicket-taker in recent events, including in the European T20 World Cup qualifier where he finished with 12 wickets at an average and economy of 8.75 and 5.33 respectively.

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“India is an experienced side, which means there’s a lot of data and a lot of information out there. Hopefully, we can look to find a couple of areas we can try and exploit.

”It has shown in the past that the luck of the Irish has always been with us. Playing in a country which we don’t know a lot about, and it is what it is, we don’t really focus too much on that,” Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan said in the pre-match press conference, remaining optimistic of his team putting up a good fight against one of the title favourites.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube.

Ireland: Paul Stirling(c), Andrew Balbirnie, Lorcan Tucker(wk), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Ross Adair, Barry McCarthy, Mark Adair, Joshua Little, Craig Young, Benjamin White, Neil Rock, Graham Hume.

Venue: Nassau County International Stadium, New York City.

Time: 8 pm Indian Standard Time/10.30 am Eastern Daylight Time.