 William Porterfield hit 75 before his soft dismissal in Bangalore |
Frustration with his team's batting didn't mask Ireland captain William Porterfield's pride after Sunday's World Cup defeat by India in Bangalore. Porterfield top-scored with 75 for the Irish but they were all-out for 207 after being 122-2. "We kept fighting the whole way through and we're proud of all the lads," said the Irish skipper. "We got ourselves into a great position but the run-out of Niall O'Brien set us back a bit." Porterfield particularly rued his own dismissal which left the Irish struggling on 160-6 as he played loosely at a wide, short ball and hit a catch to Harbhajan Singh in the covers. "Another 40 runs could have made it very interesting. "After losing those two early wickets, we did well to get ourselves into a good position but we just couldn't come up with the score that we wanted." Despite Ireland's modest 207 total at the Chinnaswamy stadium, the visitors bowled and fielded superbly well to have India in a degree of discomfort at 100-4 before Yuvraj Singh's 50 helped the home side earn a five-wicket win in the 47th over. "We're not going to give up and we had the armoury in our side to cause them a few problems," added Porterfield. Next up for Ireland is Friday's game against the West Indies in Mohali and Porterfield says that his side will be targeting a victory.  | We are showing signs of improvement India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni |
"We've got three games left (West Indies, South Africa, Netherlands) and there's no reason why we can't beat any of the teams we are playing. "The West Indies match will be a big game for us. We've just got to get ourselves back on the horse." India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni paid tribute to the Irish display. "The Ireland team did really well and I think their bowlers were well supported by the fielding side," said Dhoni. "The most important thing is that everyone got a chance to bat. We were batting under pressure. "We are showing signs of improvement, which is good. "It's important to peak at the right time because it's a long tournament so definitely what we have seen is slow and gradual improvement on the bowling side," he said. Man-of-the-match Yuvraj felt that Niall O'Brien's run-out was a key moment in the match. "The run out by Virat was the changing point," said Yuvraj, who became the first player in World Cup history to notch five wickets and score a half century in the same game. "I only tried to bowl slow from then on and the pressure slowly built on them."
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