Hamilton: On the cusp of creating World Cup history, a supremely confident India will aim to crush a gutsy Ireland in their penultimate group encounter of the ICC cricket World Cup 2015, at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Tuesday.
Having already qualified for the quarter-finals with four commanding wins, the defending champions are eyeing their fifth straight win in the tournament.
If India happens to win tomorrow, it will create a new World Cup record of winning nine straight matches at the global event, starting from their win against the West Indies in Chennai during the 2011 edition.
Their win against the Caribbeans in the previous match at Perth was their eighth successive win and that had equalled Sourav Ganguly’s team’s successful run during the 2003 edition in South Africa.
It will be another David vs Goliath contest where India will be looking to maintain their supremacy over Ireland, who is seeking fourth spot in Pool B to make the quarter-final grade.
The last time India met Ireland was in Bangalore during the last edition of the World Cup, where the hosts comfortably beat their opponents by five wickets as Yuvraj Singh emerged as the star performer with a ‘five-for’ and a half-century.
Such has been the impact created by the Mohammed Shamis and the Ravichandran Ashwins that none of the opposition teams’ batsmen have been able to post a total of 250 in the competition.
However the Irish bowling in absence of pacer Boyd Rankin (who played a Test match during last Ashes tour) doesn’t have the necessary firepower to trouble India.
It will depend a lot on seamer-all-rounder Alex Cusack (6 wickets) and left-arm spinner George Dockrell (5 wickets) but they don’t have enough experience or guile to stop a formidable Indian batting line-up.
In all, another contest heavily loaded in India’s favour.
Bureau Report
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