Ireland coach Heinrich Malan drops shocking 'pretty weird' verdict on T20 World Cup 2024

Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan has called his team's campaign in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 'pretty weird'. Ireland's campaign in the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup will end on Sunday (June 16) after their final group game against Pakistan in Florida.

Ireland were drawn in Group A alongside India, Pakistan, USA and Canada. While India and Pakistan were the favorites to qualify for the Super 8s from the group, many were expecting Ireland to give the heavyweights a run for their money. However, the tournament has not really unfolded on the expected lines so far.

While India booked their place in the next stage with three wins and one washed-out game, the USA joined them in the next round ahead of the likes of Pakistan and Ireland. In fact, Ireland are yet to win a game in the tournament and will be looking to bow out of the competition on a winning note. They began their campaign with losses against India and Canada before their third game against the USA was washed out.

Heinrich Malan on Ireland's campaign:

Ahead of the game against Pakistan, Heinrich Malan opened up on Ireland's campaign in the tournament. The Ireland coach revealed that the players have not trained at all since arriving in Florida. The region received heavy rainfall this week and several games at the venue were abandoned without a ball being bowled. Ireland will be hoping that they manage to get some action in the upcoming game.

"We've been quite lucky. We played them a couple of weeks ago back home in Ireland. It's been a challenge from a preparation point of view. We haven't trained at all since we've been down in Florida the last week, so I mean, that is what it is.

"We've been having our unit meetings and our preparation meetings and just going over some of those plans that we've managed to execute pretty well back home and won the first game. We can piggyback on, that for a little longer period and hopefully, we can go well again tomorrow," Malan said in the pre-match press conference.

"It's been a pretty weird World Cup, as you say. Yeah, look, we've tried to keep the lads busy as much as we can, obviously doing our preparation and our analytics work in the background, and just keep them active physically. The boys are at the minute playing a bit of soccer and trying to just get the competitive juices flowing as well leading into tomorrow," Malan added.

Meanwhile, India, USA, Australia, England, West Indies, Afghanistan, and South Africa have booked their spot in the Super 8s. The Netherlands or Bangladesh will be the eighth team.