[Watch] Arshdeep Singh sends openers packing cheaply in IND vs IRE T20 World Cup 2024 match
India's new-ball bowler Arshdeep Singh struck twice in an over to dent Ireland early in the T20 World Cup 2024 clash at the Nassau International County Stadium in New York on Wednesday. Both Paul Stirling and Andy Balbrinie struggled to get going against the Men in Blue's new-ball bowlers and perished for single-figure scores.
The dismissal of Stirling occurred in the first ball of the third over as the right-hander looked to pull, but the ball hit high on the bat. Rishabh Pant, the keeper, covered good ground to take the catch. The final ball of the over saw Arshdeep rearrange Balbirnie's stumps as he missed the ball while trying to run the ball down to the third-man region.
Watch the clip here:
Earlier, Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first, claiming he couldn't quite understand what to make of the wicket. He announced that the Men in Blue are playing four seamers, including Hardik Pandya, and two spin-bowling all-rounders in Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.
Virat Kohli, fresh from his stellar IPL 2024, is likely to open the innings with Rohit. Ireland captain revealed that he also wanted to field first.
Arshdeep Singh also plucked two wickets in the warm-up game against Bangaldesh
The left-arm seamer was also magnificent against Bangladesh in the practice fixture against Bangladesh, taking figures of 3-0-12-2, dismissing Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das. The Men in Blue won the contest by a massive margin of 60 runs as Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya starred with the bat.
Ireland are coming into the series after a spirited performance against Pakistan where they won the opening T20I of a three-match series but lost the next two. Nevertheless, they are yet to beat the Men in Blue in T20I cricket.