Zaheer Khan did most of the damage as champions India inflicted an eight-wicket defeat on Ireland in Wednesday night's last ICC World Twenty20 Group A fixture at Trent Bridge.
William Porterfield's men managed to muster only 112 for eight from 18 overs, after being put in first in a rain-shortened match.
They dug in admirably to make even that many, against some high-class pace bowling from Zaheer (four for 19) among others.
But were unable to defend their total as India raced home with 15 balls to spare, on the back of another half-century from in-form opener Rohit Sharma.
The mitigation for Ireland was the absence of injured pair Niall O'Brien and Trent Johnston, who both expect to be fit in time for Thursday afternoon's Super Eights opener against New Zealand at the same venue.
The evident gulf in class was nonetheless a stark warning of what Ireland will be up against in the remainder of the tournament.
Without O'Brien, their prospects of posting a challenging total were always going to be compromised.
However, Ireland captain William Porterfield refused to be discouraged after the defeat and said he was pleased with the players' performance.
"They (India's bowlers) landed the ball in the right areas and we nicked a couple, but made a few bad shots," Porterfield told Sky Sports 1.
"It doesn't help when you keep losing wickets off that but I thought we fought back really well at the end and it was fairly competitive."
Porterfield refused to use the fact that his side had suffered injuries as an excuse.
"Obviously it's not easy losing Niall from the top order and Trent on that pitch would have been a big help to us, but we'll make no complaints about that, the lads that came in did really well."
© Press Association