"You Need Good Surfaces": Ireland Coach Doubles Down, Slams New York Pitch

Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan criticised the pitch for their T20 World Cup Group A match against India, stating that a good playing surface is crucial, but the recent games at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium haven't met that standard. Malan's comments come after India won the match at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium by eight wickets after they bowled Ireland out for just 96, with the pitch having excessive swing and variable bounce, which was uneven on various occasions in the game.

"When you play the game you need a really good surface or as good as surfaces you can get and unfortunately what we've seen over the last couple games just doesn't necessarily live up to that. So hopefully, over the next day or so it can hopefully flatten out a little bit and we can see some good cricket come Friday,” he said in the post-match press conference.

On Monday, at his venue, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 77, as South Africa won the match on a challenging pitch. Wednesday's match will bring more scrutiny to the pitches at New York, especially with Ireland to face Canada here on Friday and India facing Pakistan in a high-octane clash on Sunday.

"I think we just want to see good cricket, don't we? It's the pinnacle of our event and it doesn't have to be 200 play all the time, it just needs to be an equal contest and I think if you look at today it is debatable where that was," added Malan.

India's fast-bowlers, led by Hardik Pandya's 3-27, blew away Ireland by picking eight wickets collectively. Ireland struggled to adapt and alter their batting plans on a tough pitch. Only Gareth Delany managed to top-score with 26 and was involved in partnerships of 27 and 19 for the ninth and tenth wickets,