The fascinating left-handed opener, India’s Shikhar Dhawan, was yet again the trending celebrity on twitter after his superb ton played a clinical role in the victory of the defending champions over the formidable Ireland side in a Pool B encounter on Tuesday at the Seddon Park. After a record 174 run opening stand between Dhawan and Rohit, India easily sailed towards victory by clinching the target of 260 runs set by the Irishmen with utmost ease at the loss of just 2 wickets. Dhawan scored his second century of the tournament and gave a strong retort to the critics that were once doubting his very place in the squad.
Rohit Sharma too played a gritty knock of 64 before he fell prey to Thomson. And then Virat Kohli & Ajinkya Rahane smoothly wrapped up the proceedings for the defending champions. For the Irish team, it was yet again a show of promising start which tumbled in the middle, and once again came in their Man-To-Rescue, Niall’O Brien, who played a convincing knock in order to post a respectable total at the board. He couldn’t convert it into a big innings because of the inadequacy of support and reciprocity from the other end.
It was yet another magnificent performance from the Indian bowling attack, with Shami being the pick of the bowlers who grabbed 3 wickets in his spell of 9 overs and cob conceded a modest 41 runs. For Ireland, it was a lack lustre performance with the ball with only Thomson bagging 2 wickets while giving a hefty 45 runs in his mere 6 overs.
Deservingly, the right-handed opener Rohit was second only to Dhawan when it came to his popularity on twitter followed by his skipper Dhoni who grabbed the third spot according to a report released from Twitter on wednesday. The game saw a Tweet live impression of a whooping 25. 1 million users. And for Ireland, their man with the magical-willow, Niall’O Brien was undoubtedly hailing the top spot on twitter trendline, followed by their skipper William Porterfield and the ace-hitter Paul Sterling.