Speaking at the press conference after India romped home by eight wickets, Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan tried his best not to make excuses for the loss.
But there was no doubt that his side entered the fixture at a disadvantage. The players were unable to get a feel for the new stadium before the start of the match, while India assessed conditions with a warm-up game here against Bangladesh.
“It is tough to adjust when you don’t know what you have to adjust to. That is unfortunately the way it has worked out from a scheduling point of view. Today was the first time our players saw the ground, so we were trying to be as diligent as we could in terms of our preparation,” Malan said.
“The first time we took catches (at the stadium) was when the guys were warming up (before the India match). It is not ideal, but that is not an excuse,” Malan said.
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“We tried to do as much homework as we could even though we weren’t at the ground training or playing on the surface. We spoke to the groundsman,” he added.
The South Africa-born Malan stated that the new drop-in pitch at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium did not live up to expectations.
“You need a really good surface or as good a surface as you can get. Unfortunately, what we have seen over the last couple of games doesn’t necessarily live up to that. Hopefully it will flatten out over the next few days,” Malan said.