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Kevin O' Brien, man of the moment

Sports Reporter

— PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

Kevin O'Brien.

Bangalore: Not long after starring in his side's incredible victory over England, Kevin O' Brien had another reason to celebrate. Irish cricket's latest hero turned 27 on Friday, and cheerfully indulged reporters at his press conference.

“I got three scratch cards from my sister through my mom, but unfortunately I didn't win anything,” he laughed, when prompted to discuss his presents.

“I got a bag of sweets from my girlfriend this morning. There will be a party at our team meeting later on. I'm looking forward to a chocolate cake or something like that.”

Despite all the attention in the aftermath of Wednesday's result, O' Brien felt his life remained the same. “It hasn't changed much, to be honest,” he said.

“There has been a bit of interest on Facebook. There have been a few hundred messages of support — text messages and stuff like that.

“The President (Mary McAleese) rang up our manager yesterday and I spoke to her for a couple of minutes.

“It's very pleasing that back home the Irish cricketing public has gone mad. It's great to hear and read all these stories, but I'm still focused on this tournament and the four games left for Ireland.”

A challenge

Turning his attention to Sunday's clash against India, O' Brien admitted that playing the host nation would be a challenge.

“The Indian batting line-up is fantastic,” he said.

“If it's not the best batting line up at the World Cup, I don't know what is.

“They've got strength at the top with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag opening the innings.

“Then they have some power hitters in Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan.

“We'll look at videos to find how to bowl at them. Obviously it's difficult because they are in good form. But I'm sure Simmo (Eric Simmons) will come up with some plans.

Pat for Sehwag

Singling out Sehwag for special praise, he said, “Personally I love watching Sehwag because of his carefree approach.

“Even if it's the first ball of a Test match, if he thinks it's there to be hit he will hit it. He's great to watch.”

“I've seen the likes of Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Ashwin,” he said, speaking of the bowling unit.

“A couple of bad matches won't make them a bad bowling attack. Zaheer Khan is fantastic with the new ball, and is also very dangerous at the death.

“We all know Harbhajan's skills. It's going to be a difficult game on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it.

“It's not everyday that you play in front of 50,000 screaming fans.”

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