Bangalore, Mar 3: With the fastest World Cup hundred under his belt, Ireland batsman Kevin O'Brien is now hoping to catch the attention of an Indian Premier League franchise for a lucrative stint in the Twenty20 league.
"Who wouldn't (want to play in the IPL)? A lot of people have said that Twenty20 suits me, the way I swing the bat and hit a few sixes," O'Brien said after striking a 50-ball hundred to guide Ireland to an upset three-wicket win over England last night."If something comes of that, even better. If not, I'll just concentrate on Sunday's game against India and see what happens," he added.
The 26-year-old, who made 113 off 63 balls, said beating England is one of the biggest highs for the Irish be it any sport."From a personal point of view, and I think I speak for a lot of Irish teams not just cricket, beating England in any sport is always a fantastic occasion."O'Brien said without doubt, last night's hundred was the best of his career.
"That's a long way the best innings I've ever played,"said O'Brien, who struck six sixes and 13 fours. It even eclipses playing in the back garden with Niall (his brother who also plays in the Ireland squad), where hitting it out of the garden was out," he joked.
"I think anyone is going to struggle to beat that innings. A World Cup hundred off 50 balls, in front of a billion people under lights against England. It doesn't get
any better," he said.Ireland captain William Porterfield, on his part, said the win was the "biggest in our country's cricket".
"We have won against Pakistan and Bangladesh in 2007 and lost to England by 48 runs. Going by these, this is the best ever win for us so far on international cricket," he said.
"Kevin's was an unbelievable knock. I admire him for the manner in which he scored runs. Bangladesh loss is gone, we now have to do our best in the remaining matches. We had our strategy and plans and things fell in places," he added. PTI
