Considered the leading favorite in home conditions before
the tournament, India has conceded plenty of runs in its opening two matches in
Group B.
It was involved in a thrilling last-ball tie against England
after amassing 338 at Bangalore's Chinnaswamy Stadium last Sunday. The bowling
had been no more impressive either in its opening match in Dhaka, where India
scored 370-4 but allowed Bangladesh to hit 283-9 in reply.
Ireland, which lost to Bangladesh by 27 runs, will be
looking to exploit any further weaknesses after pulling off one of the biggest
shocks in World Cup history on Wednesday with its three-wicket win against
England.
Kevin O'Brien, who smashed the fastest World Cup century
ever to help Ireland carve out its victory, was relishing the prospect of
playing India in front of a full house.
“We are looking forward to the match because it is not every
day that you play in front of 50,000 spectators,” O'Brien told reporters on
Friday. “There is no pressure at all and it will be great to see people come
out to watch us.” O'Brien indicated that Ireland's preparations were focusing
on India's much-vaunted batsmen, who have excelled at the tournament so far.
Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli smashed 175 and 100 not out
respectively against Bangladesh, while Sachin Tendulkar struck 120 versus
England. Others like Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh have also shown good form.
“India's batting lineup is the best in the World Cup,”
O'Brien said. “We are not going to do anything different but will look at areas
we can bowl at. We will come up with some plans during team meetings.” O'Brien,
who scored 113 off only 63 balls against England, said the Indian bowling would
not be underestimated.
“Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan (Singh), (Piyush)
Chawla, they are all very good bowlers. Their bowling attack has world class
performers,” he said.
However, the bowling has been a problem for India so far, especially
filling the place for a fourth specialist bowler.
Pace man Shantakumaran Sreesanth and leg-spinner Chawla have
been unimpressive in one outing each and only the return of pace bowler Ashish
Nehra from a back injury is likely to solve the problem.
Zaheer is so far the only one to contain runs and make
breakthroughs with any consistency. His new-ball partner Patel has done well,
while Harbhajan has yet to reach the expected standards.
India has also given away many runs in the field, putting
that much more pressure on the batsmen to score runs.
“We have some good bowlers, it is not as if our bowling is
poor,” India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had said after the England game. “But
yes, fielding is a problem and we may not improve much in that department.”
