New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS): With Ireland set to face India, Pakistan, USA and Canada in Group A of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, head coach Heinrich Malan said that playing against the giants from the subcontinent is a tantalising prospect for his team.

All of Ireland’s first-round matches will be played in the USA – two matches in New York, against India and Canada on June 5 and 8 respectively, while the other two matches are scheduled to be played in Lauderhill, Florida – against the USA and Pakistan on June 14 and 16' respectively.

“It’s always an exciting time for players and fans alike when a World Cup draw is revealed, and the planning begins in earnest. To be drawn into a Group that includes India and Pakistan is a tantalising prospect and should attract big crowds, while also to face one of the co-hosts on their home soil adds some spice, and Canada have a proven pedigree in this format so will be a challenging encounter as well.”

“It may be a cliché to say that no match at a World Cup is easy, but the Group we have been drawn into absolutely exemplifies that saying. One secret weapon we may have up our sleeve, however, is an enormous Irish ex-pat population in the US, and we absolutely call on the members of the Irish diaspora in the US to put on their green and come out to support our lads,” said Malan in a statement issued by Cricket Ireland.

Before the start of the mega event, Ireland will play two official warm-up matches against opponents and at venues yet to be revealed. In the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, Ireland sprung a surprise by defeating eventual winners England in a rain-hit match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

They sealed their place for the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup via favourable results in the European Regional Qualifier held in July 2023.

“As we demonstrated on the recently concluded tour of Zimbabwe, we are building an exciting, resilient and fearless brand of cricket in the shortest format and we hope to evolve this further over the coming months.”

“For now, however, we begin our specific planning for our opponents that are now known. We have plenty of cricket to look forward to in the lead-up to the tournament – starting with a highly anticipated multi-format series against Afghanistan in March. Personally, I can’t wait for 2024 to start and to see where we can take this talented group of players,” added Malan.

As compared to 16 teams in the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup, 20 teams will be divided into four groups of five each for the first round. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eight stage. In Super Eight, teams will be split into two groups of four each.

Teams seeded first and second in their groups in the first round will retain that seeding in the Super Eight, provided they qualify. A1, B2, C1 and D2 finishers will be in one group, while A2, B1, C2 and D1 will be slotted in the other group. The top two sides from two groups of the Super Eight will advance to the semifinals.

The semifinals will happen on June 26 and 27 in Guyana and Trinidad respectively, before the final happens in Barbados on June 29. This will be the first World Cup event to be hosted by the USA while this will be the second time West Indies will be hosting the Men's T20 World Cup after doing so last time in 2010.