T20 World Cup: Paul Stirling says India opener key for Ireland – BBC Sport

Stirling’s team face T20 World Cup debutants in their following two games – Canada on 7 June in New York before moving to Florida to take on USA a week later.

“I certainly never thought I would play a cricket game in New York in my life – it’s something I’m looking forward to and I know the rest of the squad are as well,” he added.

They finish against Pakistan on 16 June in what is expected to be a meeting between the sides battling for second place behind India.

Pakistan beat the Irish 2-1 in a recent T20 series in Clontarf and are four places higher in the rankings.

Canada and USA may be outsiders but the Americans boast home advantage and defeated Bangladesh 2-1 last month to earn a first series win over a Test-playing nation.

Stirling said: “We know how daunting a task it will be against four strong teams, not just two – the India game is probably the trickiest of the four first up so we aim to put in a really good performance, then we’ve got two huge games coming up after that against the USA and Canada.

“If we get to the stage where we’re facing Pakistan in a ‘winner-takes-all’ we’d probably be happy but if we look too far ahead and look at that scenario we’ll fall short.

“The USA beating Bangladesh just cements the idea that we have to be at our best to beat them.”

Pacemen Josh Little and Mark Adair will spearhead the Irish attack while Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie, Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker provide a strong top order.

Ireland warmed up for the World Cup with wins over Scotland and the Netherlands before a 41-run defeat by Sri Lanka in Florida on Friday.

They progressed from the first round at the 2022 T20 World Cup before stunning England in the Super 12s.

A top-two finish in the group is the target and Stirling is upbeat on Ireland’s chances of doing just that.

“We really want to get into that Pakistan game with a chance of getting through from the group.

“I think the bookies would have us in the middle range of the rankings to finish third in the group so I suppose the challenge for us is to try and better that and finish second.

“I think we’re in a really good place. I think if we play to our potential and play to the best of our ability we can definitely get through the group but if we look past that first game against India then we’ll be in a bit of trouble.”