Oman creates history on World Twenty20 debut
He started with a six off Max Sorensen but the thrust came in the 17th over, bowled by Murtagh. Aamer sent him for three consecutive fours in a 20-run over and all of a sudden, the equation looked very gettable at 23 from three overs.
But there would be more twists. Kevin O’Brien bowled an 18th over that cost only five runs and Rankin bettered it in the 19thover, giving away just four runs in an over that also produced two wickets. It left Oman with 14 to get from the final over but it still had Aamer, and on strike.
Sorensen was left with the high-pressure job of bowling the last over but when he started with a high full toss that was deposited to the boundary, the game slipped away. An outside edge off Ajay Lalcheta that went to the fence added to the drama, and when Niall O’Brien, Ireland’s wicketkeeper, let one pass through his legs to the fence, Dharamsala saw one of its craziest and most memorable celebrations ever.
Earlier, Ireland’s innings resembled a relay race, with each batsman running a short distance and passing the baton on to the next.
It started with a maiden over from Ajay Lalcheta, the left-arm spinner, but Ireland soon got going, Paul Stirling and William Porterfield regularly finding the boundaries in the Power Play.
The first six overs yielded 46 runs and no wickets, and Ireland seemed to have set the perfect platform. Oman needed something to go its way, and it came in the form of a superman-like effort from Maqsood to dismiss the dangerous Stirling. The batsman had played a full-blooded drive off Aamir Kaleem, the left-arm spinner, and just when it seemed like the ball had travelled past cover, Maqsood flung himself to his left to pluck it out of thin air.
The stunning dismissal helped Oman regroup and put a brake on the scoring rate. Ireland kept going through some mini partnerships – led by Gary Wilson -- but Oman’s disciplined bowling meant Ireland could never get on top. The biggest blows came in the 16th over when Ansari, the pacer with an action that resembles Lasith Malinga’s, dismissed Niall O’Brien and Gary Wilson to leave Ireland 118 for 4.
It required a few timely hits from Andrew Poynter and Andy McBrine to take Ireland past 150, but that wasn’t to be enough. It was Oman’s night.
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