India, the defending champions, and Sri Lanka wrapped up their World Twenty20 first-round matches with convincing wins at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
India warmed up for the Super Eights by crushing Ireland by eight wickets while Sanath Jayasuriya hit 81 as Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by 15 runs.
Zaheer Khan, the India left-arm seamer, claimed four for 19, including three wickets in seven balls, to restrict Ireland to 112-8 in a match reduced to 18-overs-a-side due to rain.
Rohit Sharma, the young opener, then hit an unbeaten 52 off 45 balls as India romped home with 15 balls to spare to end the preliminary league with two successive wins. Gautam Gamhir chipped in with 37 in a first-wicket stand of 77 with Sharma in front of a sell-out crowd at Trent Bridge.
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said there were still areas to improve. “Every game you start from scratch,” he said. “The bowlers did very well and it’s a real positive that they are doing their jobs. We can do better in the field. It wasn’t our best day.”
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“I’m talking about 85-90 percent efficiency, but we can do it.”
Ireland, who were surprise qualifiers for the Super Eights after beating Bangladesh, never recovered from Zaheer’s triple strike which reduced them to 28-4 by the seventh over. Andrew White top-scored with 29 as four of the top six batsmen failed to reach double figures.Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, picked up two for 18 in his four overs.
Jayasuriya and Tillekeratne Dilshan hammered an opening stand of 124 as Sri Lanka eased past West Indies. The pair lifted Sri Lanka to 192-5, a total that West Indies chased bravely despite the absence of their captain Chris Gayle, who missed the group C match because of a knee injury.
West Indies ended at 177-5, fired by a spectacular counter-attack by Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who put on 77 off 59 balls for the fifth wicket. Bravo hit a 38-ball 51 that included five fours and two sixes, while Sarwan remained unbeaten on 28.
“The main thing today was to get momentum and I’m happy with the way the guys played,” said Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain. “Sanath is a genius and he was ably supported by Dilshan. They proved that with a good start you can put up a very defendable total.”
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Denesh Ramdin, the West Indies captain, said his team will be back on form in the Super Eights when Gayle will return from injury. “We needed to get a good start but we had to chase the game,” Ramdin said. “We’ll play hard cricket in the Super Eights and we’ll bounce back.”
Left-handed Jayasuriya, at 39 the oldest player in the 12-nation tournament, smashed 81 off 47 balls that was studded with 10 boundaries and three sixes.
The Super Eights begin on Thursday here with injury-hit New Zealand facing Ireland while England meet South Africa.
World Twenty20: Group A
India v Ireland
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Trent Bridge (India won toss): India beat Ireland by eight wickets
Ireland
*W T S Porterfield c Y K Pathan b Khan 5
J Bray b Khan 0
†G C Wilson b Harbhajan 19
A C Botha c Y K Pathan b Khan 8
K J O’Brien b Ojha 2
J F Mooney c Yuvraj b Ojha 19
A R White c Dhoni b Khan 29
R M West run out 1
A R Cusack not out 12
W K McCallan not out 9
Extras (lb 6, w 2) 8
Total (8 wkts, 18 overs) 112
W B Rankin did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-9, 3-17, 4-28, 5-48, 6-72, 7-73, 8-92.
Bowling: I K Pathan 3-0-22-0; Khan 3-0-19-4; I Sharma 3-0-18-0; Yuvraj 1-0-4-0; Ojha 4-0-18-2; Harbhajan 4-0-25-1.
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India
G Gambhir c Rankin b West 37
R G Sharma not out 52
*†M S Dhoni c Bray b McCallan 14
Yuvraj Singh not out 3
Extras (lb 4, w 3) 7
Total (2 wkts, 15.3 overs) 113
I Sharma, S K Raina, Y K Pathan, I K Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan and P P Ojha did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-77, 2-100.
Bowling: Rankin 4-0-28-0; K J O’Brien 2-0-17-0; Cusack 2-0-13-0; West 4-0-23-1; McCallan 3.3-0-28-1.
Umpires: I J Gould and N J Llong.
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Group C
Sri Lanka v West Indies
Trent Bridge (West Indies won toss): Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 15 runs
Sri Lanka
T M Dilshan c Benn b Simmons 74
S T Jayasuriya lbw b Simmons 81
*†K C Sangakkara c Fletcher b Simmons 5
D P M D Jayawardena c Ramdin b Simmons 4
J Mubarak not out 8
L P C Silva c Ramdin b Taylor 7
A D Mathews not out 3
Extras (lb 5, w 4, nb 1) 10
Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 192
S L Malinga, B A W Mendis, I Udana and M Muralitharan did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-124, 2-147, 3-168, 4-172, 5-189.
Bowling: Taylor 4-0-32-1; Edwards 2-0-37-0; Bravo 4-0-29-0; Benn 4-0-25-0; Pollard 3-0-45-0; Simmons 3-0-19-4.
West Indies
L M P Simmons c D P M D Jayawardena b Muralitharan 29
A D S Fletcher b Malinga 13
X M Marshall c L P C Silva b Mendis 14
S Chanderpaul b Mendis 1
R R Sarwan not out 28
D J Bravo c Mubarak b Malinga 51
K A Pollard not out 19
Extras (lb 4, w 17, nb 1) 22
Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 177*
†D Ramdin, J E Taylor, S J Benn and F H Edwards did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-70, 3-71, 4-73, 5-150.
Bowling: Jayasuriya 3-0-34-0; Malinga 4-0-45-2; Udana 4-0-36-0; Mendis 4-0-25-2; Muralitharan 4-0-21-1; Mathews 1-0-12-0.
Umpires: S J A Taufel and B F Bowden.