Pace sets up India’s 8-wicket win over Ireland

WESTBURY, New York (AP) — Jasprit Bumrah and India’s pace attack did most of the damage before Rohit Sharma scored a 37-ball half-century to steer the team to an eight-wicket win over Ireland on Wednesday at the Twenty20 World Cup.

Sharma plundered four boundaries and three sixes before retiring hurt for 52. Rishabh Pant added 36 not out off 26 balls as India reached 97 for 2 in 12.2 overs after routing Ireland for 96.

Allrounder Hardik Pandya took 3-27 for India while Bumrah (2-6) and left-armer Arshdeep Singh (2-35) chimed in to ensure pace accounted for eight of the 10 Irish wickets.

India next plays fierce cricket rival Pakistan in the marquee match of the league stage on Sunday.

“Early wickets set the tone for us,” Sharma said. “It was good to spend time on this wicket, although it didn’t change too much in the second innings. We will prepare for the Pakistan game as if the conditions will be similar.”

In Wednesday’s later games, Uganda secured its first victory in a T20 World Cup match in a low-scoring thriller against Papua New Guinea at Guyana and Australia posted 164-5 after being sent in at Barbados by Oman.

India took four fast bowlers into its tournament-opening game in New York, noting the inconsistent bounce in the pitch at the same venue where South Africa routed Sri Lanka two days earlier.

It paid off immediately, with India winning the toss and Arshdeep causing havoc under overcast conditions to remove openers Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling and have Ireland reeling at 9-2.

Pandya went in as first change and struck immediately, bowling Loran Tucker for 10 and having Curtis Campher caught behind for 12.

In between, Bumrah had Harry Tector caught for four. Ireland slumped to 50-8 after 11.2 overs as Pandya struck again twice.

Gareth Delany provided some resistance and top-scored with 26, the only Irish batter to cross the 20-run mark and put on 27 runs with Joshua Little (14).

In a top-order reshuffle, former skipper Virat Kohli opened for India with Sharma but the move backfired when he was caught at third man attacking Mark Adair (1-27).

India’s second-wicket pair added 54 off 44 balls before Sharma retired hurt after being struck on the right arm from Joshua Little.

The only other wicket to fall for India was Suryakumar Yadav, who was caught in the deep for two runs.

Returning to international action after a gap of nearly 18 months since a car accident in late 2022, Pant finished off the match with a reverse-hit six over the slip cordon.

Uganda’s first win

Uganda dismissed Papua New Guinea for 77 but had to work extra hard for victory, losing its first three wickets by the start of the third over in reply and then slipping to 26-5 before rallying to reach 78-7 with 10 balls remaining.

Riazat Ali Shah’s 33 was more than double the highest score by any other batter in the match, but he was out with Uganda three runs away from victory.

He had two big reprieves — chopping an inside edge just over his stumps before he’d scored with Uganda on 8-3 and again when he was on 9 and the total at 35-5 when Charles Amini put down a regulation catch in the 9th over.

Uganda rallied to set up victory with a 35-run sixth-wicket partnership between Riazat and Juma Miyagi (13) before a runout added an extra element of tension at the end.

“First win of a World Cup is a special win for us,” Riazat said. “It was not easy to bat on this wicket ... our plan was just to stay in and take our time.”