An allround performance with both bat and ball from Yuvraj Singh helped India to register a hard fought victory by five wickets over Ireland in their ICC Cricket World Cup match in Bangalore.
Earlier M.S.Dhoni won the toss and put Ireland into bat. Zaheer Khan gave India a perfect start after reducing the Ireland to 9/2 in the 3rd over. But calm and compose partnership between W.Porterfield (75 runs off 104 balls) and N.O’Brien (46 runs off 78 balls) put Ireland inning on track.
Yuvraj bowled excellantly as Ireland failed to bat out their 50 overs,dismissed for 207 despite William Porterfield’s inning of 75 in 104 balls.He received little support from the top order aside from Niall O'Brien's 46 after Paul Stirling (0) and Ed Joyce (4) were picked off by Zaheer Khan, who took three for 30 in nine overs.The partnership of 113 between Porterfield and O'Brien was broken when O'Brien was run out by Virat Kohli and Dhoni.
He got the wicket of Andrew White caught by Dhoni for five, caught and bowled Kevin O'Brien for nine and finished off the innings of Alex Cusack (24) and John Mooney (5) by trapping them in front leg before.
Munaf Patel then dismissed Trent Johnston - also trapped in front - for 17 to end the innings of Ireland.
Defending the target of 208 runs for victory, Ireland struck with the new ball when Johnston had Virender Sehwag caught and bowled for five and Gautam Gambhir caught by Cusack for ten to reduce India to 24 for two.
Sachin Tendulkar (38 runs off 56 balls) and Virat Kohli (34 runs off 53 balls) put on a much needed 63 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket to bring India’s run-chase back on track,taking the score to 87.
But double blow in quick succession by Ireland bring them back right into the game, Tendulkar was trapped in front by left-arm spinner Dockrell and Kohli was run out with the score on 100 by Dockrell and Kevin O'Brien.
However Captain cool M.S.Dhoni (34 runs off 50 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (50 runs off 75 balls) steadied the Indian inning by putting 67 runs for the fifth wicket,before Dhoni was trapped in front by Dockrell for 34 and with India at 167 for five , the match was in the balance.
Dhoni dismissal in the 41st over did allowed some Ireland fans some hope of getting a surprise victory over Indians but brutal straight hitting from Yusuf Pathan, who blasted three sixes - two in one over from Dockrell - soon put Ireland on backfoot. Yuvraj reached his 47th ODI half-century and hit the winning runs with four overs to spare. Dockrell got two for 49, Johnston two for 16 from five overs.
Yuvraj Singh was declared Player of the Match for his all-round performance with both bat and ball.
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