Ireland to take on T20 champions today

LONDON ( 2009-06-10 10:29:27 ) :Ireland will take on World T20 champions India today in their final Group A match at Trent Bridge knowing that win or lose a chance to revisit the greatest day in Irish cricket history is guaranteed.When Pakistan beat Holland yesterday to claim the final place in the T20 last eight, it meant that Ireland will play the team they famously beat by three wickets at the 2007 World Cup at the Oval on Monday.A victory against India would mean Ireland top Group A but wherever they finish they will play New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the next stage, with the top two progressing to the semi- finals next week.Beating the world champions will not be easy, but, over the shortest distance, Ireland are not without hope, and their chances improved yesterday with the news that India's explosive opening batsman Virender Sehwag will miss the rest of the tournament with a shoulder injury.Ireland are in confident mood after Monday's win against Bangladesh and man-of-the-match Niall O'Brien expects to be fit to play after twisting his ankle.O'Brien said: "We are up against the world champions but we are going to give it our best shot. "There will be nothing left on the pitch, I can guarantee you that. "It's Twenty20 cricket and we have already seen an upset by Holland against England, and we said at the last World Cup we are not just here to make up the numbers, we want to win as many games as we can."We've got a belief in the squad that we've got a very talented bunch of players. We are all here to win cricket matches and we've got off to a great start."