Cricket Ireland (CI) is confident about India's touring nation for a white ball series before their upcoming ODI and T20I series against England from July 1 to 19 next year, after the Australia tour.
ESPNcricinfo reported that the Cricket Ireland officials have held discussions with their BCCI counterparts over a potential visit before the commencement of the England tour. India last visited Ireland for a short T20I series in the past seven years, including 2018, 2022 and 2023.
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Ireland captain Paul Stirling earlier expressed his disappointment about the lack of home international cricket this summer. He classified his side as "underprepared" to face England in their ongoing three-match T20I series.
The second T20I between Ireland and England was abandoned due to rain at The Village in Dublin.
"I opened the meeting by saying, as far as I'm concerned, the quantum of cricket that we're playing in '25 isn't good enough to prepare you guys to play international cricket and to be competitive at ICC tournaments. I'm not hiding from that," MacNeice said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"We mapped out our views and thoughts on what the schedule for '26 and '27 looks like, and I wanted to get their input not just on the international schedule, but also the domestic schedule... It was a really positive session yesterday. There's more work to be done, honestly, but it was a good session," MacNeice added.
"[The players] understand the challenges that we're facing and some of the reasons why we had what we had, but they also are very clear about what we're trying to achieve. I think they're fully bought into that," MacNeice said.
As part of the ICC's Future Tours Programme, Ireland is due to host New Zealand (one Test), Bangladesh (three ODIs and three T20Is) and Afghanistan (one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is) next summer.
"There are still a couple of variables that have to be figured out before we lock in the final schedule, but we'll be hosting Test cricket here next year," MacNeice added.
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