India records comfortable victory over Ireland
Defending champion India defeated Ireland by eight wickets in the ICC World Twenty20 2009 on Wednesday with both teams having already qualified for the Super 8 stage.
Rohit Sharma hit 52 not out and Gautan Gambhir 37 as India eclipsed Ireland's total of 112-8 with 15 balls to spare in a match reduced to 18 overs per side due to rain at Trent Bridge.
India opening bowler Zaheer Khan earlier ripped through the Irish top order, taking three wickets in seven balls on his way to 4-19, while Pragyan Ojha claimed 2-18.
Khan's figures were even more impressive, given he is still recuperating from a shoulder injury.
"It's great to be playing after a long time," he said. "It's only my second game but it's important to get some wickets, and wickets at any level boost confidence. I certainly gained some confidence.
"It's really simple. You give it your (best) shot, play good, professional cricket. We want to win all the games, not just two of them."
Andrew White was Ireland's top scorer with 29, while Gary Wilson and John Mooney both made 19.
The Indian openers made a pedestrian start to the chase, taking the score to 67-0 at the halfway point.
Gambhir, who had earlier been dropped, was out 10 runs later, caught by Boyd Rankin off Regan West in the 11th over.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined Sharma at the crease and the latter finally decided to hit out in the 13th over, smashing a six off Rankin's final ball.
Jeremy Bray took a tremendous diving catch to get rid of Dhoni off Kyle McCallan, but it was academic as India reached 113-2.
Dhoni won the toss and asked Ireland to bat.
Ireland captain William Porterfield was Khan's first victim, bowled by a yorker. Gary Wilson was caught by Yusuf Pathan at first slip and the same combination did for Andre Botha at the end of the fourth over.
Ojha then bowled Kevin O'Brien and Wilson had his off stump knocked back by Harbhajan Singh, to leave the Irish on 48-5 in the 10th over.
The Ireland batsmen found it impossible to generate any momentum. They limped to 72 before Mooney was caught by Yuvraj Singh trying to reverse sweep Ojha and West was run out off the next delivery after failing to ground his bat.
Khan claimed his fourth wicket in the penultimate over when he had White caught by Dhoni, but Ireland scored 15 from Harbajhan Singh's final over to add some respectability to the score.
Ireland will have two key players - bowler Trent Johnston and wicketkeeper-batsman Niall O'Brien - back for Thursday's Super 8 game with New Zealand.
"If push came to shove, Niall could have played," Porterfield said. "But he'll get an extra 24 hours rest and it'll do him a world of good. We didn't want to risk Trent because it was only four overs, but he could have aggravated his shoulder injury.
"We were missing Trent, but he's going to come back. I think on that wicket he'd have done really well."