IND win by five wickets !

The first ball of Rankin was hit for four by Sehwag. He has started in the same fashion he started on the opener against BD, hitting the first ball of the WC for four through the covers !

Sachin also hit a four and India have plundered 9 runs off the first over.

Sehwag is gone, caught and bowled Johnson and India are 9/1.

Earlier Zaheer became a cyclone when he clean bowled Sterling and had the next batsman caught behind. From 9/2, IRE wriggled to 122, with a 113 run partnership, between Niall O Brien and the skipper, Porterfield.

India at the moment are 69/2. Gambhir and Sehwag fell to Trent Johnston, who bowled with accuracy and variation. IRE will not allow Ind to succeed, without a great fight !
IRE got Tendulkar out, lbw for 38. He needs only 18 more to take his tally to 2000 runs in WCs.

IND are now 98/3, with Kohli on 31 and Yuvraj on 3.

Earlier, Porterfield, the IRE skipper, top scored with 75. Niall O Brien scored 46. Kohli is run out now for 34 and India are 100/4 !

A great partnership of 67 between Yuvraj and Dhoni brought respectability to the score. Dhoni was trapped leg before for 34. Pathan came in and lofted the first ball for four and then smote the next one for a six. The next one he smote for the biggest six of them all. ( 99 m ). !

Now IND need 16 runs off 38 balls ! Now he has hit Sterling for another six and IND need only 9 runs off 31 balls !

Yuvraj became the first player in WC history to score a 50 and get five wickets. He betters the record of Kapil, who scored 40 and took five wickets. His responsible batting is responsible for the Indian victory. He was cool, calm and unruffled in a high pressure situation. He even advised Pathan ( after the latter had hit 3 sixes ) to calm down and play the game professional ! Gone was the dashing, swashbuckling Yuvraj of old. He is more experienced and played like a professional. He is a bit annoyed of losing the No 4 spot to the inform Kohli. Kohli had amassed almost 1000 runs last year. Hence Yuvraj brought out the best in himself and it seems that pressure had made him more professional.

Pathan swung for four and India had won by five wickets ! Pathan is 30 not out and Yuvraj 50 not out ! Let us not forget the cool 34 made by Dhoni, which showed his steely determination !

We feel that in the next match, we have to play Ashwin, Nehra and Raina. We have to see how they perform. It is always Raina for Gambhir and Ashwin for Bajji or Chawla. Nehra can come in for Munaf. Then only will we be able to assess the form of the players. The NED match in Delhi comes as a huge opportunity !

With Yuvraj in such tremendous form, there is no need to worry about the fifth bowler. It is the third and the fourth bowler which are worrisome. Chawla giving away runs and Bajji not successful in taking wickets give scope for alarm and despondency !