NEWS
Follow UsApplauding the depth in the Indian team, Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie says that his side could never put out a Test and a T20 side simultaneously.
India will take on Ireland in the first T20 International (T20I) on Sunday (June 26), while at the same time, another Indian side will be preparing for the Edgbaston Test against England at Grace Road at the same time. Balbirnie says the Indian Premier League (IPL) has a huge role in India fielding multiple teams at the same time.
"Nowadays, any Indian team you play is going to be a good team. It kind of shows the depth of Indian cricket that they can put out two teams. We couldn't do that - there's no way we could put out a Test team and a T20 team at the same time, we just don't have the numbers for that," Balbirnie said in a press conference ahead of the first T20I in Dublin.
"With the IPL being so successful over a number of years, a lot of young guys are coming in and putting their names forward to get into that first eleven for India.
"And with the World Cup in October, there'll be a lot of guys looking for those places. So we know it's going to be a good Indian team and we have to be at our best to try to force a result," he added.
One of the advantages of the IPL is that it provides the opposition sides with enough footage to go over the strengths and weaknesses of the players. This is something that Balbirnie feels works in his team's favour.
"The good thing about the IPL is that you get to see all these players pretty much every day, there's a game every day when the IPL is on. So we have a lot of footage of these guys - bowlers and batters," Balbirnie said.
"So there's plenty of homework being done, Scott Irvine, our performance analyst, has done a lot of work. So we have the tools there. It's all well and good having the footage and stuff, (but) we got to go outside and execute our skills. Certainly, the homework will be done before we go out there on Sunday."
The Ireland captain also revealed that the message from the backroom staff is for the bowlers to stay calm and not rush through the process given how difficult T20 can be for them
"One of the main messages we always try to get, particularly to our bowlers, is to just take them in and just kind of catch your breath back because it can happen so quickly and the ball can be flying all over the place, and sometimes you can rush into things," Balbirnie said.
"So we have to make sure that we kind of take that moment to gather ourselves in the important moments. But hopefully, we've had a lot of experience playing top teams in 50-over cricket and T20 cricket."
Balbirnie also expects the atmosphere for the two T20Is to be great given that India have a huge fan following wherever they go. "I think the intensity goes up, naturally the noise is incredible. You almost can't hear yourself. I think there are 10 or 11 thousand people going to be here on Sunday and potentially 9000 of them will be Indian supporters," the Irish skipper opined.
"It's great, it's what you want to do growing up, to see this crowd. A few of our guys played in the 2011 World Cup against India, so it was one of the most amazing atmospheres to have played in. So the guys are really excited to see the colour, hear the noise of the game, and hopefully, that kind of gives our guys extra confidence once we get down to it on Sunday."
The Hardik Pandya-led side will begin the Ireland tour on Sunday (June 26) before concluding the short tour on Tuesday (June 28) with the second T20I, both in Dublin. With India head coach Rahul Dravid busy with the Test side in England, NCA chief VVS Laxman will assume his role for the tour of Ireland.
