Highlights - India vs Ireland - Fast bowlers, Rohit and Pant blow Ireland away on spicy pitch

Few batters other than Rishabh Pant would attempt that sort of shot anywhere. He does it on this pitch, after being struck on the shoulder by a lifter the previous ball. He does it, and absolutely nails it to clear tbe boundary behind the keeper. The bowler, Barry McCarthy, can only smile.

A resounding finish for India. Resounding margins too - eight wickets, 46 balls remaining, after they bowled Ireland out for 96.

India begin their campaign with a big win, but this match will mostly be remembered for the pitch it was played on. Uneven bounce right through, mostly on the high side but occasionally low too, and sideways movement as well. The superior quality of India's fast bowling probably won it, but India were also advantaged by batting second and knowing they were only chasing 97. Not that they didn't keep taking chances nonetheless.

Onwards, then, for both teams. Ireland's next game is day after tomorrow, against Canada, and India's... well, you know when and against who that is. What kind of pitch can the tournament organisers rustle up, here in New York, for India vs Pakistan? All eyes are going to remain on the pitches here until June 9 rolls around.

India needed six to win, and SKY looked to finish it with one shot. Took on the slog-sweep off the legspinner Ben White, and in fairness to him the shot looked on. Just didn't get hold of it, and he's caught at deep midwicket. India are 91 for 2 in 11.4 overs.

He'd taken a blow to the right arm earlier, when he was early on a pull off Josh Little. Struck just above the elbow. That must be the reason he's gone off the field now.

Not after he'd brought up his half-century, though. Finishes with 52 off 37. Played some terrific shots, and also rode his luck, but most batters would need to to bat that long on this surface. India are 21 away from their target at the halfway point of their chase.

And right after the retirement, Little smacks another arm. Rishabh Pant's left elbow, in fact. Ouch. He carries on batting, so no immediate worries for India, but it looked painful. Swung at a length ball and missed, and he may have been a bit early on the shot.

This is an excellent pitch in New York. Provided the idea was to get the American audience hooked on to Test cricket disguised as T20. #INDvIRE #T20WorldCup

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) June 5, 2024

Have to do something about the pitches. Can't imagine India vs Pakistan on this one.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) June 5, 2024

And No. 599 and 600 are classic Rohit Sharma. Successive short balls from Josh Little, one getting up to chest height and one to shoulder height. One is pulled square, the other hooked behind, and both clear the boundary with absolute ease. India are 64 for 1 in nine overs.

Rohit has more sixes than anyone in international cricket. He's now 47 ahead of Chris Gayle.

Does so with a four in the sixth over, a full ball from Little that's deliberately sliced over backward point. Then he plays and misses at the next ball. Story of India's powerplay. They end it 39 for 1.

Both Rohit and Virat Kohli have taken chances early on. They may believe India need to maximise the new ball in these conditions, who knows.

Kohli falls in the third over, steps out to Mark Adair and looks to make room to hit him over the covers. Ends up slicing it to deep third instead. India are 22 for 1.

Rohit Sharma is on 18 off 11 balls, and he has a control percentage of 40 at the moment. I already mentioned the dropped half-chance in the first over. Now he inside-edges Josh Little past his stumps for four, and then gets a full-toss that he pummels over mid-on for six. A full-toss! To Rohit Sharma of all people! Just land the ball anywhere on this pitch!

India are 22 for 0 in two overs.

...to slightly change the words of the Rupert Brooke poem (which inspired the title of the Ramachandra Guha book, which is being turned into the Bollywood biopic of the great Palwankar Baloo).

As I type that, Ireland make their defence of 96 a little harder, Balbirnie failing to hold on to a tough chance at second slip when Rohit Sharma meddles at a wide outswinger from Mark Adair.

Gareth Delany may have played a very, very useful innings here. 27 off 15 balls. Gets that little bit of luck that a batter needs on this kind of surface, when Ravindra Jadeja, turning around and running back from backward point, drops a tough chance off a mis-hit ramp in the 16th over. But either side of that he finds a way to hit two fours - one off the middle, one off the edge - and a stonking pulled six, before the Ireland innings ends with a run-out off the last ball of the over. Delany was looking for a risky second run to keep strike for the start of the next over, but White didn't move.

Ireland are bowled out for 96, and Matt Roller lets us know on our office Slack channel that that's "the highest T20I score in the proud history of Nassau County International Cricket Stadium".

It is indeed. India need a record-breaking chase to win from here.

Bumrah can do that even when the pitch is helping him immensely. Goes for the yorker, and ends up hitting the base of the stumps on the full, after Little makes room to carve through the off side and fails to put bat on ball. Ireland are 77 for 9.

Trying to sell the game in the states is great .. love it .. but for players to have to play on this sub standard surface in New York is unacceptable .. You work so hard to make it to the WC then have to play on this .. #INDvIRE

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 5, 2024

Gareth Delany and Josh Little take their chances in the 13th over and score 14 off it. Hardik is the bowler. That takes them to 66 for 8.

Then Little cuts Ravindra Jadeja for four in his first over, and Ireland go past the 68 mark.

Axar Patel comes on and there's no respite for Ireland. Soft dismissal at first glance, Barry McCarthy caught and bowled attempting a shot that's neither attacking nor defensive, but the ball definitely stuck in the surface as he tried to push down the ground for one.

Ireland are 50 for 8 in 11.2 overs.

India picked four quicks (five if you include Shivam Dube, who would also be useful on this pitch), and you can see why. Mark Adair looks to make room to cut Hardik, and the ball jags away and makes him reach for it. Only manages to toe-end it in the air to Dube running in from deep point.

Ireland's lowest T20I total is... 68 all out, against West Indies during the 2010 T20 World Cup.

That stat is from Sampath Bandarupalli.

In the tenth over. Siraj gets a short ball to lift awkwardly, and George Dockrell gets into a sub-optimal position to play it, stepping leg-side to make room but not going early enough so he's not in the most stable position. Would have been a hard ball to pull even if he'd moved earlier, and all he manages is a top-edge that Bumrah settles comfortably under at mid-on.

... in nine overs. Hardik gets a length ball to straighten in the corridor, and nicks off Curtis Campher.

This pitch in New York is very poor! #IREvsIND

— Mickey Arthur (@Mickeyarthurcr1) June 5, 2024

Harry Tector is out for 4 off 16 balls, and you've got to empathise with him because he's been at the receiving end of a ball doing all kinds of unpredictable things. The latest is a short ball from Bumrah that just keeps climbing, and he's late and cramped on the hook, and gets a bit of glove onto helmet and up in the air for the man at short extra-cover to get under.

Looks like the wobble-seam ball, full but not quite up there for the drive, or at least not in these conditions. Lorcan Tucker looks to drive on the up, through mid-off or thereabouts, and it nips in and bowls him through the gate.

Ireland are 28 for 3 in 6.5 overs.

Uneven bounce- and seam movement continue to hound Ireland's top order. Arshdeep gets one lifter to hit the shoulder of Harry Tector's bat in the fifth over, and one to hit his right glove.

Then Jasprit Bumrah, coming on for the first time in the sixth, gets one to nip between Tector's bat and pad while defending, and bounce over the top of the stumps. Then he beats his outside edge with an away-swinger (seemed like swing rather than seam, at first glance) and then smacks his back thigh with a nip-backer that bounces more than expected.

A maiden to end the powerplay. Ireland are 26 for 2.

Two wickets for Arshdeep in the third over, and Ireland are 9 for 2.

The second wicket is the result of the uncertainty Arshdeep caused in Andy Balbirnie's mind. The left-arm quick got the ball swinging into the right-hander early, but he also got a number of balls to keep going with the angle across. He'd beaten both Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker this way, earlier in the over, and the final ball brings the wicket. Balbirnie looks to stay leg-side of the ball and steer it down to third, and it keeps going with the angle - it may even have left him slightly off the deck - and beats his outside edge to peg back off stump.

Superb new-ball bowling, and Arshdeep has put India right on top.

Swing, uneven bounce, slow outfield

That's the evidence of the first 2.1 overs of this game. The bounce has been interesting. Ashdeep got a seam-up ball to bounce a second time before reaching the keeper, but both he and Siraj have also got the ball to reach the keeper at above shoulder height when they've bent their backs.

And the uneven bounce aids in India getting their first breakthrough at the start of the third over. Paul Stirling looks to hit against Arshdeeo's left-arm over angle, and the ball - pitching on the shorter side of a good length - climbs a bit more than expected, and all Stirling manages is a ballooning top edge to the keeper.

Ireland are 7 for 1.

Interesting choice of attack from India. Four seamers including Hardik Pandya, but they haven't compromised on their spin options since they have Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. This means Kuldeep Yadav sits out the start of this World Cup.

You can see why India went with Jadeja and Axar. The entire Ireland line-up bats right-handed, including the left-arm spinner George Dockrell and the left-arm quick Josh Little.

Three seamers and two spinners for Ireland, Paul Stirling says.

India 1 Rohit Sharma (capt) 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mohammed Siraj.

Ireland: 1 Paul Stirling (capt), 2 Andy Balbirnie, 3 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 4 Harry Tector, 5 Curtis Campher, 6 George Dockrell, 7 Gareth Delany, 8 Mark Adair, 9 Barry McCarthy, 10 Josh Little, 11 Ben White.