IND vs IRE

Well, that's all that we have for you from the T20 World Cup for now. There's plenty of action to come as the evening rolls along in the West Indies and USA - Australia begin their 2024 T20 World Cup campaign with a game against Oman, Papua New Guinea play Uganda, and hosts United States of America contest Pakistan at Dallas next morning. Join us right here on Sportskeeda for our coverage of all of them, and a lot more! This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Pradeep Somasekhar. Good night!

As comprehensive a win as they come! A major highlight from the run-chase was the intent on show from both Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant. The Indian team management's decision to send Pant in at three was notable as well - they sure wanted a left-hander up the order. The move paid off, and while they have tougher opponents to come, this, and the tremendous show put up by the Indian bowlers sure are encouraging signs going into the blockbuster clash against Pakistan on Sunday.

Ireland, fresh from a T20I tri-series win, were well and truly humbled today. There was no contest between their top-order and the Indian pacers, and while they tried their best to counter-attack, the likes of Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah were too good for them. Mark Adair and Joshua Little bowled really well in their opening spells, but Ireland had far too little to defend. Back to the drawing board for them - Ireland have time till Friday as they take on Canada right here at New York.

Rohit Sharma (India captain): Just a little sore (the arm). We were quite unsure of what to expect of the pitch. It's a new ground, new venue, drop-in pitch. Not really aware of what it is like playing on a pitch which is 5 months old. It was all about getting used to the conditions, so that's why we bowled first to look at the conditions, see how the pitch plays. Dom't think the wicket settled down when we batted second. To get those two points was very important. When there's enough on the pitch, you've got to stick to the basics, think of bowling Test match lengths, try and hit them consistently. All these guys have played a lot of Test cricket, Arshdeep's the only guy who hasn't played a lot of it. With him, swinging the ball back in to the right handers was vital. His two wickets upfront was something that set the tone for us heading into the game. Dom't think we can play four spinners here. When we picked the team, we wanted to have the balance. We wanted to have the seamers in the squad early, and as we head into the tournament, the later part, spin will play a crucial part. Again, looking at the pitch and conditions, we are looking to make chances and do what is required at that point. I thought today was a four-seamer pitch, we still managed to get two spinners in, who are all rounders. Gives us good balance heading into this game. (On team combinations for game against Pakistan) Don't know what to expect from the pitch but we will prepare as per the conditions like this one. That is going to be the kind of game where all eleven of us need to come together and contribute. Today was scratchy, but it was good to spend some time in the middle and understand what shots to play. Hopefully we can do the same (in the game against Pakistan).

Paul Stirling (Ireland captain): It was a tough one, the toss did play a crucial part with pitch doing a lot and we weren't just good enough today. India bowled terrific lengths and really put us under pressure. (About what score they could've put) That was pretty much it, just how were going to go about it. We needed to put the pressure back on Indian bowlers, but we but kept losing wickets and lot of that went in the air, that was that. They didn't miss a lot, their groupings and lengths were outstanding. We've got a big game or two coming up, we're back in a couple of days, crucial for us and we will take a lot of information come Friday and put a better effort. Just go out there what's the pitch is like, give it a good crack against Canada. It's a must win for us, hopefully we can get in with the must win game against Pakistan at the end.

Jasprit Bumrah has been adjudged the Player of the Match! Here's what he has to say: Coming from India, when you see the ball seaming around, going quite a bit, with good bounce and pace, I wouldn't mind at all. In this format you have to be proactive, you can't pre-empt a lot of things, you realize these are the conditions and adapt as quickly as possible. We had played proactive game as well, we knew how the wickets are here. With the overcast conditions, knew the ball would do something, trying to stick to that and trying to go back to what has worked for us. You want to cover all bases, once the seam goes down, the wicket does settle down, ya, there is a uneven bounce, but you have to be prepared to bowl in all conditions, very happy with the outing we had today.

Match summary:

India win by 8 wickets with 46 balls to spare

Rohit Sharma 52*(37) | Hardik Pandya 3/27 (4)
Gareth Delany 26 (14) | Ben White 1/6 (1)

There still was a lot of juice for pacers on the track after 16 overs of cricket, but the intent from the Indian batters seemed a lot more refreshing, especially from Rohit Sharma. The Indian skipper, coming into the World Cup on the back of an indifferent Indian Premier League campaign, batted with a lot more freedom. He took his chances, enjoyed the odd slice of luck, and killed the game off early.

Rishabh Pant at the other end wasn't as comfortable - the timing wasn't quite there more often, but the left-hander sure didn't back away from presenting his own arsenal of strokes - both in front and behind the wicket. Walking in after Virat Kohli slashed one off Mark Adair down the throat of Benjamin White at deep third, Pant got in on the act, thumping a half-volley down the ground for a boundary one ball into his innings.

The Ireland bowlers did beat the bat on occasions, found the edge at times, but to no avail. The wicket began misbehaving more as the chase progressed - Rohit Sharma was struck on the right arm trying to pull as a delivery from Little leapt onto him, and Rishabh Pant suffered a couple of blows two overs later. 

There has been a lot of uneven bounce off this deck all game, and with big names in Rohit Sharma  and Rishabh Pant suffering an injury and taking blows because of it is bound to spark talks of the safety of batters playing on decks at the Nassau. Nevertheless, Pant kept at it, played his strokes, and finished the game off in his own style eventually. Stay tuned for the quotes...

The most Rishabh Pant-like way to finish things off! Uneven bounce? Blows to the arm and gut? Doesn't matter - trust Pant to reverse lap one over the keeper to cap the game off!

12.2 Barry McCarthy to Rishabh Pant, SIX! OUTRAGEOUS SHOT TO FINISH OFF THE GAME FROM PANT! Audacious shot from Pant that, unbelievable who he pulls off something out of nowhere. Back of a length outside the off-stump, Pant with a reverse hit, makes a good connection and goes way over third-man ropes for a maximum. McCarthy stands in disbelief as India finish a clinical win to kick off their campaign with a win of the first game!

12.1 Barry McCarthy to Rishabh Pant, OH MY! Short delivery, kicks off the deck and climbs into the batter, pings Pant on the chest as he gets behind to defend. It's getting tougher and tougher to bat on this track.

11.6 Benjamin White to Shivam Dube, drops it short on the fourth stump. Dube gave himself some room and cuts it straight to backward point for another dot.

11.5 Benjamin White to Shivam Dube, length delivery on the pads. Dube nudged it away but Delany with a good stop, sliding to his right at short mid-wicket.

11.4 Benjamin White to Suryakumar Yadav, OUT! MILES UP IN THE AIR AND TAKEN! SKY went for the glory shot and perishes. Flighted the length delivery on the off-stump, in the slot and SKY sits on one knee for a slog sweep but hits it straight up. Dockrell runs in and takes a tumbling catch at deep mid-wicket.

Suryakumar Yadav c George Dockrell b Benjamin White 2 (4b, 0x4, 0x6)

11.2 Benjamin White to Rishabh Pant, FOUR! SHOT! Stand and deliver stuff now from Pant. Tossed up a length delivery outside the off-stump, Pant reaches and spanked it over the top of extra-cover fielder, runs away to the ropes.