Ireland coach Heinrich Malan said on Tuesday that this summer's T20 World Cup will be special, but it was a “catch-22 situation” for his team to face India in the opening match.
Ireland, who won their first Test against Afghanistan last week, will play all of their group games in the United States, playing India and Canada in New York before traveling to Lauderhill, Florida, to play the United States in a co-host with the West Indies. –And Pakistan.
“If you went back a few years and said you were going to play cricket for America, no one would have believed you,” Malan said during a video conference ahead of the team's first one-day international against Afghanistan in Sharjah. he told reporters. Thursday.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us, but we have a little work to do to check all the boxes before we jump on that plane.”
“If you think about Pakistan and India, which we play, ask any T20 cricketer, those are two teams you want to play in, a stadium that holds 25,000 or 30,000 people. To know that you're going to play against them in the. It makes it even more special.
“Hopefully we can play some consistent cricket and get over the line with an exciting brand of cricket.”
Ireland face the difficult prospect of playing India on a 'drop-in' pitch in their opening match in New York on June 5, which is loaded with star players from the Indian Premier League.
“From our point of view, they have a lot of seasoned players who have just come from the IPL, so it's a bit of a catch-22.
“At the end of the day, you can’t control who’s in front of you, but you can control how you conduct your business and how you prepare.
“And hopefully we can play a good brand of cricket in 40 overs and they will take us a little bit lightly… I don't think they will.”
“The good thing is that they play so often that we have a lot of information so we can be clear about our tactics. If you look at their numbers and the number of games they play, you know they are quality players. I see something.”
“But at the end of the day, it's all about the bat and the ball. We've proven as individuals that we can compete with these big names. Hopefully, we'll see those performances pan out as we get into that June period in America.” I hope you do.”
“Great” test win
There are still three ODIs and three T20Is on the current tour, all to be played in Sharjah, but a six-wicket win in the only Test last week would mean it will already be judged as a success. .
The victory came in Ireland's eighth Test, but Malan said it was difficult to gauge the magnitude of the achievement at the time.
“It's tough to do that, but then when you sit down and get your phone back, it just highlights the amount of text messages, support and well-wishes from people all over the world, from past players and past coaches. That really summed it up for me,'' said the South African, who took over Ireland in January 2022.
Despite being away from home, the Irish celebrated accordingly.
“To be honest, I don't think they (the players) asked for permission,” Malan said.
“It was a great night, there was time and place to celebrate and we got over the line with our first Test win, but obviously we missed a few beers.
“It was a great day, but we have two more formats to tour in the future and that's our heart right now.”
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