Chattogram, Bangladesh Global: Ireland coach Heinrich Malan said his side must learn quickly from their eight-wicket defeat to Bangladesh in the third T20 International in Chattogram on Tuesday, stressing that key positives outweigh the setback ahead of the T20 World Cup. “We knew we could obviously play a little bit differently,” Malan said. “There was a little bit more turn and the pitch was two-paced. We stopped throwing punches through the middle — this is a nice little learning opportunity for us.”
“They tied us down nicely. They built pressure with dot balls and new batters found it tough. When we come to the subcontinent, we know there will be those periods where we have to learn,” he added.
Ireland batted first in all three matches, something Malan said was a deliberate challenge. “We’ve always enjoyed batting second, but we wanted to work on areas like communication and managing fast scoring. We had productive starts, but there are learnings from that middle block again tonight.”
Despite losing the T20I series 2-1, the coach praised several performances and the squad’s development. “Matthew Humphreys has been brilliant. It’s great seeing Mark Adair and Josh Little back from injury,” he said. “We are building the player pool we’ve spoken about. A lot of positives from the first two games, and learnings from this one.”
Reflecting on Ireland’s month-long tour, Malan said the group had grown from challenges in both formats. “It has been a brilliant four weeks. Massive learnings in red-ball cricket. The lads love playing here. We were hosted brilliantly again. We love coming to Bangladesh.”
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