‘We can bat well on any kind of surface’

India’s captain Rohit Sharma during his 52 against Ireland on Wednesday. Pic/AFP

Rishabh Pant uncorked an audacious reverse-scoop like only he can, sending Barry McCarthy scurrying over the fence right behind the wicketkeeper to bring up the six that formalised India's eight-wicket victory, with 46 deliveries to spare, against Ireland on Wednesday. It was the perfect start to India's T20 World Cup campaign at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, but the talking point wasn't so much about Jasprit Bumrah's brilliance, Rohit Sharma's 30th T20I half-century and Pant's promotion to No. 3 as the nature of the playing surface, seriously flirting with the ‘dangerous' category.

"It was a challenging wicket and we were expecting a challenging wicket because we played a practice game here," said Vikram Rathour, India's batting coach. Challenging, because all Ireland mustered on being put in was 96 all out, the second time in two matches here that the team batting first had failed to touch 100 - Sri Lanka were dismissed on Monday for 77 by South Africa.

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‘Need to find a way'

"We need to find a way to deal with it and we have enough skills in the team and enough experience in the team to deal with it," Rathour went on, refusing to be drawn into launching a tirade against the pitch. "We have enough good batters who can bat well on any kind of surface; that has been our strength for many, many years. On this surface, you need to adapt well, take it head-on and not worry about it too much."

Vikram Rathour

Like he had in the warm-up match against Bangladesh a few nights previously, Pant again occupied the No. 3 slot and finished unbeaten on 36, complementing skipper Rohit's excellent 52 before he retired hurt. "At the moment, he is our No. 3, and it helps that he is a left-hander," Rathour agreed, justifying the wicketkeeper-batter's elevation to one-drop ahead of Suryakumar Yadav, the world's top-ranked T20I batter.

‘Tough to adjust'

Ireland's coach Heinrich Malan was asked if this was a 96 all out kind of surface. "When you look at T20 cricket, you want to see runs and boundaries, isn't it?" he replied, taking the scenic route. "You can make your own conclusion on whether it's a 96 wicket. It's tough to adjust when you don't know what you have to adjust to. Today was the first time our players saw the ground, so we were trying to be as diligent as we could in terms of our preparation work."

Arshdeep Singh took out both of Ireland's openers, skipper Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie, in the third over of the morning and Hardik Pandya finished with three for 27, but Bumrah was the Player of the Match with two for six from three superb overs. "When you come here and the ball is seaming around with some bounce and pace, I would never complain," he smiled. "You realise how the wicket is and then go back to what works for you. You have to be prepared to bowl in all conditions, [I'm] very happy today."