Yuvraj’s all-round show steers India to victory

BANGALORE, (Reuters) – Yuvraj Singh produced a  stunning all-round show to become the first player to grab a  five-wicket haul and score a half century in the World Cup as  India pulled off a nervy victory over Ireland today.
Yuvraj took his first five-wicket haul to help India bowl  out Ireland for a modest 207 and then followed that up with 50  not out of 75 balls to steer his team to a five-wicket victory  in Group B, ensuring they stay unbeaten in the tournament.

Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh

The 29-year-old and his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (34 in  50 balls) played uncharacteristically sedate knocks and stitched  together a 67-run partnership to set India well on their course  to victory.
The duo came together with India precariously perched at  100-4 after Sachin Tendulkar (38) and Virat Kohli (34) fell in  quick succession.
Following Dhoni’s dismissal, Yusuf Pathan blazed a quickfire  30 off 24 balls with three towering sixes to finish off the  match.
“I am definitely very happy with my bowling. First  five-wicket haul and I am happy that I could finish off the  game,” man-of-the-match Yuvraj said with a wide grin.
“Ireland played well and put us under pressure. They fielded  exceptionally.”
Yuvraj’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni agreed: “Frankly  speaking, the scoreboard said 208-odd runs but it was close to  240 because the Ireland side fielded really well and their  bowlers were very well backed up by the fielders.”
Ireland used as many as eight bowlers to try and dislodge  the pair but they dealt with the varied bowling attack and  managed to score at a modest pace despite a sterling fielding  effort by the Irish.
The most impressive Irish bowlers were their young spinners.  The 20-year-old Paul Stirling finished with none for 45 and the  18-year-old off-spinner George Dockrell finished with two for 49  — their figures spoilt by Pathan’s blitz at the very end.

LETHAL YUVRAJ
Earlier, known more for his explosive batting, Yuvraj showed  that his left-arm off spin was just as lethal as he bowled his  quota of 10 overs on the trot, taking wickets at regular  intervals to ensure that the Ireland run rate never took off.
Yuvraj came on in the 26th over and bowled with excellent  flight and guile to finish with a career-best five for 31,  including the key wickets of William Porterfield (75) and Kevin  O’Brien (9), scorer of the World Cup’s fastest ever century on  Wednesday.
Yuvraj took over after Zaheer Khan gave India the perfect  start by bowling Stirling in the first over of the day and  removing Ed Joyce in his next over. He finished with three for  30.
Ireland went into a shell and crawled to 27-2 after 10 overs  as Zaheer got the ball to move around dangerously and Dhoni  brought on his spinners from the fourth over of the day.
Ireland skipper Porterfield top-scored for his team with a  fighting 75 in 104 balls and Niall O’Brien (46) steadied the  innings with some determined batting mixed with pugnacious  strokeplay in a stubborn 113-run partnership.
They took their team to a relatively comfortable position of  122-2 when a smart piece of fielding by Virat Kohli saw O’Brien  run out short of a well deserved 50.
Kevin O’Brien, fresh from his amazing match-winning 113 off  63 balls against England, found his team in a similar situation  against India, but he failed to repeat his heroics as he fell to  a smart catch by Yuvraj off his own bowling.
From then, it was precession of wickets at regular intervals  as they lost their last eight wickets for 85 runs and some more  resistance by the lower order helped Ireland inch over the  200-run mark.