India's bowlers were clinical in their demolition of the Ireland batting, the batsmen were equally solid in chasing down the moderate total, thus consigning Ireland to their first defeat in Twenty20 internationals. Zaheer Khan ran through the top order full of left-hand batsmen, Pragyan Ojha took a first-ball wicket in his second Twenty20 international too, and the new opening combination of Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma got India off to another solid start.
Zaheer, who made his comeback from his shoulder game only in the last game, was fast and accurate today, getting the ball to shape away from the left-hand batsmen. He didn't swing it as much as his opening partner Irfan Pathan did, but his pace and accuracy did the trick. Jeremy Bray was the first one to go, on the last ball of the second over, playing all around a yorker. Soon Zaheer was on a hat-trick when William Porterfield chased the first ball of the fourth. Andre Botha survived the
hat-trick, but guided one to slip in the same over.
Something strange happens when the batsmen sight Ojha. On Ojha's debut, Shakib Al Hasan tried to pull a delivery too full for the shot and paid the price. Today Kevin O'Brien, Ireland's saviour against Bangladesh, walked across and went to pull, and dragged it from way outside off onto his leg stump. There must be something.
Read more...
