Zaheer draws first blood with Sterling`s scalp

Agencies

Bangalore, 06 March 2011: India paceman Zaheer Khan made his presence felt in the first over itself, claiming opener Paul Stirling for a duck. Zaheer clean bowled the batsman with his good line that saw the Irish scorecard reading 1/1.

 

Indian skipper MS Dhoni had won the toss and elected to field first against Ireland in their Group B match in Bangalore. The decision came as a surprise to many as the dry pitch is more spinner friendly in the later part of the game.

 

He explained the move saying, “The wicket will assist spinners more in the afternoon than in the evening. The weather gets hotter and hotter as the tournament progresses, there are no fitness issues. We took a day off in between and played Football and Volley Ball. We go in an unchanged side.”

 

Pitch Report: 26 sixes have been scored in the two games at Bengaluru, the pitch looks a bit drier. There will surely be some purchase for the spinners. The team batting first will find it easy. The spinners will have a much bigger role to play felt Sunil Gavaskar.

 

India (Playing XI): Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel

 

Ireland (Playing XI): William Porterfield(c), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O`Brien(w), Andrew White, Kevin O`Brien, Alex Cusack, John Mooney, Trent Johnston, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin.