Men’s T20 World Cup: Irish to face India, Pakistan, USA and Canada in T20 World Cup group
Ireland will take on world number one side India, Pakistan, Canada and hosts USA in Group A at the men’s T20 World Cup in June.
Their opening two games are in New York, starting against India on 5 June before facing Canada two days later.
Ireland then move to Florida to play Pakistan on 14 June with the final group match against USA on 16 June.
The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the second-round group stage.
The tournament will be jointly hosted by USA and West Indies with the final to be staged in Barbados on 29 June.
Ireland will play two official warm-up matches with their opponents and venues to be confirmed.
“To be drawn in a group that includes India and Pakistan is a tantalising prospect and should attract big crowds,” said Ireland coach Heinrich Malan.
“Also to face one of the co-hosts on their home soil adds some spice, and Canada have a proven pedigree in this format so will be a challenging encounter as well.
“It may be a cliché to say that no match at a World Cup is easy, but the Group we have been drawn in absolutely exemplifies that saying.
“One secret weapon we may have up our sleeve, however, is an enormous Irish ex-pat population in the US, and we absolutely call on the members of the Irish diaspora in the US to put on their green and come out to support our lads.
“As we demonstrated on the recently concluded tour of Zimbabwe, we are building an exciting, resilient and fearless brand of cricket in the shortest format and we hope to evolve this further over the coming months.”
T20 World Cup groups
Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, USA
Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman
Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea
Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal
