India wary of shortcomings in its bowling

India go into their World Cup clash against Ireland on Sunday knowing another weak bowling and fielding display could cost them dear against the giant-killers.

The hosts won their opener against Bangladesh mainly on their batting strength and then tied a high-scoring game against England. But Ireland, considered one of the underdogs, changed the equation in Group B when they beat England in a sensational run-chase on Wednesday, with Kevin O'Brien scoring a blistering century off just 50 balls.

Jubilant Irish skipper William Porterfield, who hailed the "greatest" day for Irish cricket, refused to consider the win as a one-off, setting his sights on the quarter-finals.

India have yet to settle on the right bowling combination at the  World Cup. They went into the Bangladesh match with three specialist seamers and one regular spinner, conceding 283 runs after scoring 370. They also failed to stem the flow of runs against England. A total of 338 was not enough despite a changed line-up of two specialist pacemen and two spinners.

Left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan has so far looked the most impressive bowler but India's part-timers Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan have not managed to apply enough pressure on opposition batsmen.India coach Gary Kirsten said playing five specialist bowlers was an option.

But bowling coach Eric Simmons said: "We have to see the balance of the team does not get upset. Gary and the skipper ( Mahendra Singh Dhoni) will take the final call on this."

Dhoni, on his part, conceded it would be tough to boost fielding standards due to the make-up of the squad after a cumbersome performance against England.

"I don't think we can improve the fielding very much because we have got quite a few slow fielders in the side," he said. "But as far as the bowling department is concerned I think we have got a talented group so hopefully in the coming games we can improve a lot."

Ireland, thought of as also-rans in a powerful group also featuring South Africa, have vowed not to rest on their laurels following their famous win over England. Speaking immediately after beating England, Porterfield had said his team believes in itself despite having to chase such a big target.

"It will be a good party back home but it's still only one game we've won from two. We've still got four games left in this tournament so we'll be looking to put in a performance like that every game and you never know from there. We've still got a great chance of qualifying for the second phase."

Head-to-head

Matches: 1

India wins: 1

Ireland wins: 0

No result: 0

Only meeting: June 23, 2007, Belfast - India won by nine wickets

Pitch conditions: The track is expected to be batsmen-friendly as in the past two matches at this venue - India v England and Ireland v England - each team scored more than 300 runs. Bowlers need to be disciplined.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel.

Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Niall O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson, Andrew White, Ed Joyce.

Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL) and Rod Tucker (AUS)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)