Dublin, June 28: India rode on an all-round effort to kick off their English summer with a 76-run thrashing of minnows Ireland in the first of the two-match T20I series here on Wednesday.
Put into bat, the visitors posted a commanding 208/5, thanks to brilliant half centuries from seasoned openers Rohit Sharma (97 off 61 balls; 4x8, 6x5) and Shikhar (74 off 45 balls; 4x5, 6x5) before the bowlers sprung into action to restrict the hosts for a meagre 132/9.
Ireland's chase surrounded around opener James Shannon's (60 off 35; 4x5, 6x4) half century as all the other batsmen faltered in reading India's wrist spin twins -- Yuzvendra Chahal (3/38) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/21).
Ireland batsmen's weakness against quality spin bowling was clearly exposed as wickets started to crumble one after the other as soon as skipper Virat Kohli employed Chahal and Kuldeep.
With the powerplay yielding 43 runs for the loss of Paul Sterling's (1) wicket, Chahal packed back Irish No.3 Andrew Balbirnie (11) stumped by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off just his third ball, before getting Kevin O' Brien (10) and skipper Gary Wilson (5) off successive deliveries.
Kuldeep too had a similar story, getting his first wicket of Simi Singh (7) off his third ball before getting the big fish Shannon trapped in front.
The Chinaman completed his spell with two more wickets --Stuart Thompson (12) and Stuart Poynter (7) -- as the hosts were left high and dry with the scoreboard reading 123/8.
Paceman Jasprit Bumrah (2/19), who drew first blood with the wicket of Sterling, came back to complete the proceedings with the wicket of George Dockrell (9) as the hosts expectedly ended on the losing side.
Earlier, Rohit and Dhawan forged the second highest opening stand of 160 runs to help India post a commanding 208/5 despite paceman Peter Chase's heroics in the final over, where he picked three quick wickets.
The hapless Irish attack drastically failed to control the onslaught from the ruthless Indian openers as the score swelled to 150 runs by the 16th over with Dhawan bringing up his fifty off mere 27 balls and the right-hander racing to his half ton in 39 deliveries.
But the departure of Dhawan unfolded a drama that saw four more wickets -- Suresh Raina (10), Rohit, Dhoni (11), Kohli (0) falling in quick succession, the later three courtesy Chase's immaculate final over.
Brief Scores: India 208/5 (Rohit Sharma 97, Shikhar Dhawan 74; Peter Chase 4/35) beat Ireland 132/9 (James Shannon 60; Kuldeep Yadav 4/21, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/38, Jasprit Bumrah 2/19) by 76 runs.
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Pune, Nov 5: Hinting at retirement from parliamentary politics, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said he will have to think about whether he should seek another Rajya Sabha term after his current tenure ends in 2026.
Speaking at a campaign rally for grand-nephew Yugendra Pawar at Supa in Baramati assembly constituency in the district, the 83-year-old leader said he has to stop at some point and make way for the new leadership.
He has won 14 elections during his political career, noted the veteran leader who first entered the Maharashtra assembly in 1967 and was made a minister in the state government five years later.
"With your support, I first went to the state assembly. I became a minister of state and (then) cabinet minister. I became chief minister four times. I worked as defence minister at the Centre. Later I worked as agriculture minister for ten years, and today I am in the Rajya Sabha," said Pawar.
Some years ago, he decided not to contest Lok Sabha elections as he wanted to give the responsibility to a new leadership, he said.
"I decided that I will not be involved in the local politics here and gave all the responsibilities to Ajit dada (nephew Ajit Pawar). For the last 25-30 years, he had all the responsibilities. For the first 30 years, I was there, later Ajit dada was there for another 25 to 30 years and now there is a need to make arrangements for a new leadership," he said.
The Nationalist Congress Party faction headed by Sharad Pawar has given ticket to Yugendra, who would be taking on his uncle and deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Baramati in the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections. Ajit Pawar split the NCP in 2023 and joined hands with the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.
Listing his accomplishments, Sharad Pawar said some development took place when he was holdings positions of power.
"I did a lot of things. I waived farm loans of Rs 70,000 crore, worked to increase the prices of agriculture produce, facilitated agriculture exports, gave women opportunities in the armed forces while working in the defence ministry," he said.
Women were given 50 percent representation in local bodies when he was Maharashtra chief minister, Pawar noted.
He blamed nephew Ajit, the incumbent Baramati MLA, for not paying attention to the issue of water scarcity in this western Maharashtra region.
"While I was the chief (minister) of the state, I gave approval to the Janai Shirsai (water lifting) project in Baramati. The responsibility to carry out the work was given to the next leadership (Ajit Pawar). Unfortunately, he did not complete the work," Sharad Pawar claimed.
New leadership was needed for completing these incomplete works, he added.
"I can only give one assurance. I am not in power. I am in the Rajya Sabha and I got one and a half years' term left. Afterwards, I will have to take the decision as to whether to go to the Rajya Sabha again. I will not contest Lok Sabha, nor will I contest any (other) election. I have contested 14 elections so far and every time, you have made me victorious, and that is why there is a need to stop somewhere. And that is why I have started working to bring in a new leadership," he said.
This, however, does not mean he will retire from the social sphere, Sharad Pawar said.
"I will not be in power, but will continue to work for the people, work for the drought-affected regions, the marginalised segments of society," he said.
Sharad Pawar contested and won his first assembly election from Baramati in 1967, and represented the constituency till 1991 when he was made defence minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government.
Pawar, who has won Lok Sabha elections seven times during different phases of his career, was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2014. He is currently in his second term as a member of the Upper House of Parliament.
His daughter Supriya Sule is the Lok Sabha MP from Baramati since 2009.
Baramati saw a fight within the Pawar family for the first time in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections when Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar contested against Sule. The assembly constituency would now witness a contest between Ajit and his nephew.