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In 10 degree cold, India break no sweat to beat Ireland

Filed under Ireland cricket

SachinBowledByDebutant.jpgYou don't flick 3rd ball of your innings, across the line - even if the bowler is playing his first one day International.. against your World breaking 385 ODIs.

A lesson Sachin Tendulkar learnt from this India v Ireland onedayer at Belfast yesterday. 2nd lesson came from Sourav Ganguly - how to make most of opportunities - as he creamed his 8th half-century in last 12 limited over matches.

3rd lesson was from Indian team, for all International cricket teams - that matches can be won without a professional full time coach. I did notice Sachin giving some animated tips to Yuvraj Singh & Co in smallish Tent/dressing room at Stormont stadium, with Ganguly encouraging Gautam Gambhir to remain not-out..

All in all, a nice win well earned by India over Ireland in cold-cold condition they rarely have to deal with. Ireland team, looked sensible as they were in World Cup 2007. Losing the toss meant they didn't set to higher target in mind. Irish idea was to reach around 200 or little above - so appeared happy with 193 that they got batting first. New ball didn't swing too much for either of Sreesanth or Rudra Pratap Singh - but both bowled pretty accurately. Pleasing was to see Ajit agarkar finally bowl an economical spell of 10 over for only 27 runs conceded.

While Chasing, I've already told you how Sachin Tendulkar got out, & after that - no other wicket fell. Revised target for India after delayed 2nd innings was 171 from 38 overs (with 3rd power play being just 1 over long). Ireland new ball bowling had two debutants, who failed to make early inroads into India batting & cause panic.. ultimately - two G's saw their team home without any other batter warming up.

The India vs Ireland Score Cards
India v Ireland ODI – Stormont stadium, Belfast
Ireland 193 all out in 50 overs India 171 for 1 in 34.5 overs
Porterfield 16, Carroll 7, D Joyce 18 Sachin Tendulkar 4 off 3, in 4 mins & 1*4
Niall O'Brien 52 off 79 with 4 4s, White 8 Sourav Ganguly 73 off 99, 6 4s & 1*6
Wilson 13, K O'Brien 3, McCallan 4 Gautam Gambhir 80 off 107 with 9 fours
Johnston 34 (44, 2*6) Fourie 4, Whelan 4 Extras gift to India – only 14 runs
Sreesanth 3/50 & Piyush Chawla 3/29 Johnston 7-0-25-0, Fourie 6.5-0-21-0
India won the one-off match by 9 wickets

Few notes I noted :
- Weather in Belfast Ireland these days is around 10-15 degrees. In other words - perfect for love-birds. Trouble is, no Indian cricketer wives have been allowed by BCCI to travel with the team.. untill the Netwest test series with England starts on 19th July.
-This was first India Vs Ireland one day International. Ireland's 18th (2nd at home) whereas India's 648 ODI in all.. Ireland became India's 16th oneday match opponent.
-As many as 4 cricketers made debut. Gary Wilson - the middle order batsman with Thinus Fourie & Roger Whelan - the new new ball pair. Fourth one to make debut was India's Rohit Sharma. His only contribution to this match was the catch his took of Nial O'Brien off RP Singh.
-Who has the record for most catches in ODIs for India.. answer is Mohammad Azharuddin, but now Sourav Ganguly crossed the 100 mark - taking brilliant slip catch of Dominik Joyce -. Ganguly is only third Indian to take 100 catches, playing his 292nd ODI.
-Wonderful to watch India n Ireland flags being waved at same time. Both National flags are made of same color, same pattern but India has horizontal to which Irish prefer verticle.. not to mention the Chakra in the mid for India.




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