It forced Stirling to retire hurt as the team lost for the second consecutive occasion at the T20 World Cup and batting coach Gary Wilson confirmed the experienced captain had been sent for scans after the match.

"It doesn't look great," Wilson said.

"He went for a scan this evening, so we'll have to wait for confirmation. But yeah, I would say it doesn't look ideal."

Wilson was pushed on why Stirling had came out to bat during Ireland's run chase and the assistant coach said the captain wanted to lead from the front.

"I think credit to him that he knew going out there that he was probably not quite right and he still tried to go out there and get the job done for the team," Wilson noted.

"As I said, unfortunately it wasn't to be tonight."

Ireland will now likely require victories in their remaining two group fixtures against Oman and Zimbabwe to reach the next phase and Wilson said the side hadn't given up hope of picking up two wins and moving through to the Super Eights.

The coach suggested the team had shown plenty of positives across their first two matches and there was much to look forward to across their remaining fixtures.

"That was why the other day (against Sri Lanka) was so disappointing because actually for 65-70 percent of that game I thought we were the better side," Wilson added.

"It was just the last five overs of their innings and the last five overs of our innings, and we just couldn't quite put the full game together.

"But there's a lot of talent in that dressing room and a huge amount of belief from us as coaches to them and we have played the two best teams in our group so far. So we've also got two games to come there. They're hugely important for us."

Ireland will next be in action against Oman in Colombo on Saturday.