T20WC 2024: Indian pacers mow down Ireland for 96
New York, Jun 5: India's quartet of fast bowlers were simply menacing on a pitch offering variable bounce and seam movement dismantling Ireland for a lowly 96 in their opening T20 World Cup match here on Wednesday.
Arshdeep Singh (2/35 in 4 overs), Mohammed Siraj (1/13 in 3 overs), Jasprit Bumrah (2/6 in 3 overs) and Hardik Pandya (3/27 in 4 overs) didn't give any breathing space to Irish batters who were made to look like novices in front of swing, seam and extra bounce that the four-pronged attack produced during the 14 out of 16 overs they bowled.
Such was their plight that none of the Irish batters save one --- Gareth Delany (26 n.o, 14 balls) could even cross 20-run mark individually. Delany's innings took them close to the 100-run mark.
Rohit Sharma was lucky with the coin and the overcast conditions was just the kind of help Arshdeep needed first up as he bowled an ideal Test match length with the white Kookaburra.
Most of his deliveries were pitched up and reared up from length making life miserable for the seasoned duo of Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie.
It only helped that Mohammed Siraj also kept up the relentless pressure from the other end as the two openers found it difficult to even put bat on balls that were jagging around allowing Rishabh Pant to dive full stretch on both sides of the track.
Stirling tried to pull one which climbed up on him from good length and Pant ran backwards to pouch the skier.
For Balbirnie, his 'one-leg' stance turned out to be a wrong strategy to counter Arshdeep as he bowled one that was pitched on middle and moved a shade towards off with the batter with no footwork unable to cover the line of the swing.
The Powerplay gone horribly wrong at 26 for 2 for Ireland, and there was no coming back for them.
Pandya as the second change pacer bowled a perfect nip-backer with a wobbly seam to breach through Lorcan Tucker's defence.
Bumrah then scarred an already rattled Harry Tector with a nasty bouncer that took his gloves and almost blew away his head lobbing off the helmet.
At the halfway stage, Ireland, who recently beat Pakistan in a T20I at home, were 49 for 6 and the match had already becoming lopsided.
The biggest gain from the game was Pandya bowling his full quota of overs and the lengths that he hit during his spell which will give his skipper a chance to play an extra batter or bowler as per the demands of the conditions in coming games.
His three dismissals were different deliveries -- first one was swing, the second seam and the third extra bounce.
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'One nation, one election' not practical; BJP's bid to divert attention: Kharge
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Wednesday said 'one nation, one election' is not practical and alleged that the BJP comes up with such things to divert attention from real issues when elections approach.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge made the assertion as the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for 'one nation, one election' as recommended by the Kovind panel.
The panel headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind had submitted the report in March ahead of the announcement of Lok Sabha elections. Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the report was approved unanimously by the Cabinet.
Asked about the issue, Kharge said at a press conference here, "It is not practical. It will not work. When elections come, and they are not getting any issues to raise, then they divert attention from real issues."
Senior Congress leader T S Singhdeo said, "It is only a strategy of political convenience, and what I can see is nothing beyond that. The same party which is governing the country as part of the NDA has been talking about this for the past few years."
"You see their intent. Had they really been proponent of this view that this will be a great benefit to the country and the society...what attempt did they make to ensure that Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections take place at the same time," he said.
Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat said the BJP has realised that they will lose elections in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
"After losing one state after another, the BJP was not in a position to sustain that pressure that would've resulted in collapse of their coalition government. That's why the rattled government has opted for 'one nation, one election' formula," he said.
Placing the Kovind panel report before the Union Cabinet was a part of the law ministry's 100-day agenda.
The high-level committee had recommended simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.
The panel had also proposed setting up of an 'Implementation Group' to look into the execution of the recommendations made by the committee.
It also recommended the preparation of a common electoral roll and voter ID cards by the Election Commission of India in consultation with state election authorities.
