Oman’s captain Aqib Ilyas is adamant that his team can give Australia a tough time in the T20 World Cup 2024 fixture.
Oman and Australia have never played each other in international cricket. The encounter on Wednesday, June 5 will be the first between the two teams.
“You see the last match, how the ball was turning and staying low,” the captain told the reporters.
Ilyas believes that Australia does not have players with good techniques and if they get the same wicket as they did in the Namibia game, then it will be a problem for Australian players.
“(Australia) used to have a few players with good techniques in the past like Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, but I don’t think they have many now. They look to hit big. They only try to go for sixes. If we get the same wicket (as the one against Namibia), maybe it could be a problem for them.
“We don’t have much to lose. Every time there is a World Cup, there is an upset … anything can happen. We respect (Australia) a lot as a team … but before the game, it’s important to not get overawed by them.
“Once you step into the field, there is no big name, there is no one bigger than you at the field. It’s another game for us and we don’t think that we are going to play someone extraordinary,” he added.
Oman’s first game of the tournament was against Namibia on June 3 at the Kensington Oval Barbados. The result of the match was decided through a super over.
The Omani skipper got out on a golden duck in the match and took one wicket as well. He scored seven runs off two balls in the super over.
Batting first in the super over, Namibia had set up a target of 22 runs for Oman. In reply, Oman could only score 10 runs and lost the super over and subsequently the match by 11 runs.
Oman will meet Australia in the same venue where they lost against Namibia. They will then play against the rest of the group B including Scotland on June 9 and England on June 13.
Oman’s squad for T20 World Cup 2024:
Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Kashyap Prajapati, Pratik Athavale, Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Naseem Khushi, Mehran Khan, Bilal Khan, Rafiullah, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Shakeel Ahmad, Khalid Kail.
Reserves: Jatinder Singh, Samay Shrivastava, Sufyan Mehmood, Jay Odedra.
Oman’s schedule for T20 World Cup 2024:
5 June 2024 – Oman v Australia, Barbados.
9 June 2024 – Oman v Scotland, Antigua.
13 June 2024 – Oman v England, Antigua.
