Coach Malan highlights team’s ‘real progress’ as Ireland target series win against Bangladesh

Chattogram, Dec 1 (LatestNewsX) – Ireland’s head coach, Heinrich Malan, took a moment to reflect on the team’s recent outing against Bangladesh in the current T20I series. He noted that, despite a limited amount of cricket over the past months, the players have made significant progress. Heading into the decisive third match, Ireland carries a renewed sense of confidence after a solid opening performance in Chattogram and a close finish in the second game.

The visitors started the series with a commanding 39‑run win, before Bangladesh fought back in a tense finish to level the contests. This has set the stage for a high‑stakes finale as both sides fine‑tune their preparations for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Malan believes that the back‑and‑forth nature of the series has been valuable for the team’s long‑term plans. Speaking to the media before the fixture, he said, “When we started this series, we were clear that it was part of our T20 World Cup build‑up. We obviously haven’t had the amount of cricket that we would have wanted throughout the year, but that’s in the past. We’re now just focusing on where we’re at.”

“We’ve shown some real progress over the last two games. There’s a lot that we did really, really well over the last two games, and there are a few areas that we always look at that we want to try and improve on,” he added.

Malan highlighted the clarity in Ireland’s approach over the opening fixtures, stressing that the side has embraced a more expressive form of T20 cricket in line with the sport’s rapid evolution. “In the first two games, we’ve really shown the clarity of thought that we’ve put into it, the process that we’re looking for. The T20 game has evolved massively over the last little period, and I think we’ve identified that we want to free our players up to go out there and express themselves – and I think we’ve seen that in the last week. We’ve got a nice opportunity at training this afternoon to put some work into that space and then come out here tomorrow and hopefully build on what we’ve done in the first two games,” he stated.

With the World Cup slated to begin on February 7 next year, Ireland hopes that their growing determination and confidence will carry forward into the tournament, where they will find themselves in Group B alongside Australia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and Oman. Their opening match will be against Sri Lanka in Colombo on February 8.

As the series decider approaches, Ireland see it as both a chance to secure a bold victory and an opportunity to cement the fearless identity they aim to showcase on the international stage.

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