Rohit, Dhawan shine as India score 208/5 vs Ireland

DUBLIN: Rohit Sharma missed out on a well-deserved third T20 international century as India made a mockery of an inexperienced Ireland bowling attack, scoring a commendable 208 for 5 in the opening encounter of the two-match series here on Wednesday.

Put into bat, Rohit (97 off 61 balls) made amends for his poor IPL form with a breathtaking 97 off 61 balls in company of an in-form Shikhar Dhawan, who smashed 74 off 45 balls.

The opening pair put on 160 in 16 overs to set the foundation.

However India lost three wickets in the final over, preventing them from scoring in excess of 225, which looked likely on a placid track.

Young right-arm medium pacer Peter Chase finished with career-best figures of 4 for 35 with a memorable 20th over in which he accounted for Mahendra Singh Dhoni (11), Rohit and skipper Virat Kohli (0).

Rohit went for a wild slog and was bowled thereby missing out his hundred by a whisker. His innings had eight fours and five sixes while Dhawan five boundaries and an equal number of maximums.

India reached 50 in the fifth over. When the team total reached 61, Rohit-dhawan completed 1000-run in the form of their partnership in T20 Internationals.

India’s 100 came up in the 11th over and neither batsman had offered a chance to the bowlers till then. Dhawan reached his seventh T20 half-century off 27 balls, while Rohit’s 15th T20 half-century came off 39 balls.

Such was their dominance on the Irish bowling that there were only a couple of mis-hits until then.

Ireland did have their opportunities. There were a couple of miscommunications while running between the wickets and Ireland even managed a direct hit but didn’t get a favourable decision.

Stuart Thompson had a nightmarish time on the field. First, he dropped Rohit at long off in the 15th over off George Dockrell (0-40) and then let go another one at long on in the next over off Kevin O’brien (1-36). Finally he managed to latch onto a chance off Dhawan in that same over. SUHL (GERMANY): Teen sensation Manu Bhaker fired an individual gold medal with a world record score while Anish Bhanwala bagged a bronze as India continued their dominance at the ISSF Junior World Cup here on Wednesday.

The 16-year-old Manu shot 242.5 in the 24-shot final to win the yellow medal in the 10 metre air pistol event even as Anish added to India’s tally by finishing third in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol.

China’s Kaiman Lu took the silver with an effort of 236.9, a massive 5.6 points behind the Indian’s score while another Chinese Xue Li settled for the bronze with a final round score of 216.2.

This was Manu’s seventh individual gold in an International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) competition and the third with a world record.

Manu had earlier combined with team-mates Mahima Turhi Agrawal and Devanshi Rana to win the team bronze with a total score of 1694 after the qualification round.

Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Anish claimed his fourth international medal of the year when he shot 24 in the Junior Men’s final of the 25m rapid fire event. Anish had earlier shot 575 in qualifying to be fifth out of the top six to make it to the final. The gold went to Matej Rampula of the Czech Republic while China’s Jueming Zhang won silver with final scores of 30 and 28 respectively. DUBAI: Korea overwhelmed Argentina 54-25 to set up a semi-final date with India, while Pakistan also made the cut in the Kabaddi Masters here on Wednesday.

Pakistan proved too hot for African giants Kenya as they raced to a 42-20 victory in the second match of the day at the Al Wasl Sports Complex here.

Korea and Pakistan finished with two wins each to finish second in their respective groups. Both the semi-finals will be held here on June 29.

Pakistan led 22-7 at halftime and held on to their lead to seal the issue with a solid defence and attack.

Kashif Razzaq stood out in the defence with five tackle points.

Earlier, Korea geared up to their tough semi-final outing against India on a high with an easy 54-25 win over Argentina.

The Latin American nation matched Korea in the first 10 minutes but could not keep up with the tempo to finish their campaign in the six-nation kabaddi meet without a single win.

Korean raiders were too strong as they scored to combine 36 raid points while their defence scored 11 tackle points.