Pant, batting at No.3 after Indian captain Rohit Sharma decided to field Virat Kohli as his new opener, scored an unbeaten 36 off 26 balls on a tough track at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. New York.
T20 World Cup: Schedule | Table of points
After Hardik Pandya (3/27) bowled Ireland out for 96 in 16 overs, India rode on Rohit Sharma’s half-century (52 off 37 balls) to reach the target by eight wickets in 12.2 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah who took 2 wickets for 6 runs was declared the man of the match. Arshdeep Singh took 2 wickets for 35 runs and Mohammad Siraj and Axar Patel took one wicket each.
Rohit had to retire injured as Joshua Little hit his hand. Pant then took over from his captain to lead the team home. Kohli managed only 1 run and Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for 2 runs.
After India’s victory, the almighty Pant thanked him for his return to international cricket.
„Thank God for giving me hope and faith,” India’s wicketkeeper-batsman Pant posted some pictures of India’s win over Ireland on social media.
India’s T20 World Cup opener against Ireland on Wednesday will be India’s first international since Pant, who returned to the Indian jersey in the warm-up game against Bangladesh, underwent surgery following a long rehabilitation phase following injuries sustained in a car accident.
However, he returned to competitive cricket with the 2024 Indian Premier League season where he led the Delhi Capitals.
India will next face arch-rivals Pakistan in the second Group A match of the T20 World Cup on June 9 at the same venue in New York.
Apart from Ireland and Pakistan, co-hosts USA and Canada are the other two teams in India’s group.
„Całkowity introwertyk. Nieprzejednany specjalista od sieci. Przyjazny fanatyk bekonu. Student ekstremalnych. Miłośnik piwa. Organizator.”