Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie said on Friday that they are not thinking too far ahead against Bangladesh as they prepare to take on the host in the first match of the three-match ODI series at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today.
It will be Ireland’s first multi-format tour to Bangladesh as they are scheduled to play three T20Is along with one-match Test series following the ODI series.
“If we win the game great, if we don’t that’s fine as long as we are playing a certain way and we are enjoying our cricket,” he said.
“We know how challenging the next couple of months it’s going to be. It is a tough place to come for any team. Just see the England series recently, you have to play very good cricket over here over a long time to win a series, to win a game and so we are going to do that hopefully and we can start well tomorrow,” he said.
Balbirnie added that more than anything else they want to understand the strength and weaknesses of Bangladesh considering the fact they will be playing a three-match ODI series against them in May, which is part of the ICC Super League.
Ireland are desperately looking to play in the next edition of the ICC World Cup and to make a direct entry into the competition they need to beat the visitors by a clean margin.
“It’s the first sort of time we have come to Bangladesh and played a multi-format tour and Bangladesh are obviously a very good one-day team in their own condition,” said Balbirnie.
