INDIA’S CRICKET CAPTAIN has insisted that his side will not underestimate the capability of the Ireland team when the two meet tomorrow in a now-crucial World Cup game.
Skipper MS Dhoni told his pre-match conference that India had learned from their experiences of the 2007 tournament, when they underestimated a Bangladesh side that ultimately dumped them out of the tournament – only for the Bangladeshi to lose to Ireland in the second phase.
“To me all the teams in this World Cup are good and we will play to our full potential,” the captain told a packed room, according to NetIndian.
Ireland’s victory over England last week will have brought little surprise to the Bangladeshi fans who saw their own side only just scrape past their plucky visitors in their first game eight days ago. Now, buoyed by their comeback-to-beat-all-comebacks in Bangalore on Wednesday, the touring Irishmen will have little fear about taking on the hosts in their own back yard – especially when it’s in the same venue that witnessed their triumph over England.
Conditions at the stadium will be slightly different this time around – the wicket, which was bone dry on Wednesday and saw a lot of quick scoring, has dampened in the meantime – but Dhoni said the Indian side were prepared for any circumstance.
“All the cars have undergone servicing and are fit to tomorrow’s race. Unless otherwise there is some electrical failure tonight, they will race well.”
Run him out
India are to focus on Ireland’s main threat – Kevin O’Brien – by trying to run him out, Dhoni conceded, noting that O’Brien’s 113 against England had been finally brought to a close thanks to quick fielding.
Ireland, meanwhile, insist that there will be no hangover from the England encounter, with all-rounder John Mooney – who clinched the winning four on Wednesday – asserting that Ireland were approaching every game with equal diligence.
“Every game we play, we play to win. The approach will be the same,” he told the BBC. “It didn’t happen in the first outing (against Bangladesh) but we went out with the same attitude against England.”
Captain William Porterfield – who will hope to improve on his own batting, after being bowled out on the very first ball of Ireland’s innings in midweek – added that while his charges “put in a good performance on Wednesday and created a wee bit of history there… now we’ve got to start all over again.”
A win against India – albeit still unlikely, with the Indians well fancied to progress on their home turf – would give Ireland a tremendous chance of making the quarter-finals, given that Ireland will also be expected to dispose of the Netherlands in the remaining group fixtures.
TheScore.ie will be providing full live coverage of India v Ireland tomorrow from shortly after 8am, with the first ball being thrown at 9am.
