- Sunday, September 08, 2024
The former champions have not lost to Ireland ever in a T20 match and won all seven games they have played.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA will kick off their campaign at the T20 World Cup 2024 in New York on Wednesday (5) when they take on Ireland in a Group A fixture. It will be the first T20 match involving the Men in Blue since they played a home series against Afghanistan in January.
The match will see the Indian players gathering together since the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at home last month. It will be interesting to see who opens the Indian innings in the match with captain Rohit Sharma, particularly after ace batter Virat Kohli did exceedingly well in the opening position for his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru this year. Yashasvi Jaiswal is the other opener in the contention but did not play in the practice game against Bangladesh last week.
The India-Ireland match will be held at the same Nassau County International Cricket Stadium where India beat Bangladesh by 60 runs in their warm-up match.
All eyes will be on Sharma and Kohli since this World Cup could be their farewell ones. It’s more than a decade since India have won their last International Cricket Council tournament and both the ace batters would be eager to end their glorious careers with another global medal. They came very close to winning the 50-over World Cup at home last year but lost to Australia in the title round after winning all matches till that stage.
Sharma’s only World Cup title came in 2007 when India won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup. For Kohli, the only World Cup that has come so far was in 2011 when India won the 50-over World Cup at home. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the captain on both occasions.
The current World Cup will also be the final assignment of India head coach Rahul Dravid with the national side. India made the final of the World Test Championship last year under him besides the 50-over World Cup but finished second best on both occasions. The former India captain has refused to continue as the head coach despite requests and he will also want to finish his stint with a World Cup, something he has not won as a player.
Head-to-head, India and Ireland have clashed seven times with India winning on all occasions. Six of those matches have been played in Ireland. India in fact have not lost a single international fixture against the Irish, having defeated him in three one-day internationals they have played so far.
The Group A includes, besides India and Ireland, Pakistan, Canada and co-hosts United States, who defeated Canada by seven wickets in the first match of the tournament in Texas on June 1.
