Oman look to overcome familiar opposition in quest for World Cup ticket
Oman will partake in their first-ever CWC Qualifier since 2009, and regained their ODI status in 2019. A successful outing in this tournament will help them to a maiden ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup appearance.
Though they are among the younger international sides in the tournament, they aren’t short of experience, with several players over 30. Their road to the Qualifier was a successful four-year journey, during which they played 36 games and bettered five of their seven opponents in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 2019-23.
Along with Scotland and Nepal, they managed to gain a direct entry into the Qualifier in Zimbabwe based on their League 2 results.
Now, they’ll bank on their experienced line-up to come good in Africa. Among their stars is vice-captain, Aqib Ilyas.
Ilyas created history when he became the first player from Oman to hit an ODI hundred. His unbeaten 109 came against Nepal in February 2020. Just two days after this knock, he doubled his tally with another century, this time against USA.
Ilyas’s brilliant run with the bat saw his average soar to 58, but the 30-year-old has also battled with a spate of injuries in recent times. This has meant that Ilyas has played only one ODI since 2021. This was against Nepal in April this year, but the player couldn’t bat due to an injury sustained during the game.
Despite these setbacks, Ilyas is confident going into the tournament. He is also positive about contributing with his spin bowling.
Get to know Oman's Aqib Ilyas | T20 World Cup
“As a batter, I have to score runs. Having an average of almost 60 in the last 17 or 18 games is great but that is in the past now and I have to score again,” Ilyas told the ICC.
“Hopefully, I will get that confidence and if I get runs in the tournament then we have to believe we can win against anyone. It is the same for my bowling, as I am now taking wickets too.
“We know though that giving our best will take us to a big tournament and the big stage.
“We believe we have a good chance because we have some good players in the side - Zeeshan Maqsood, Jatinder Singh and then myself coming into the team. We will give everything we have to qualify for the top six and then for the top two.”
Oman have their fair share of experience against the opponents lining up against them in Zimbabwe. Ilyas believed that his team could take inspiration from their past clashes.
“We have played all of these teams before. We did not play an ODI series with Sri Lanka, but we played some 50-over games against them and we won a game and we lost a game,” Ilyas added.
“It was really good because we now have an idea of playing them and we have faced the same bowlers.
“The good thing is we have played against each other a lot of times and we know how to prepare, there are many slight margins where we lost to them, so we can come up with more positives.
“We are feeling good for the qualifiers, we are practicing well, there are some great coaches here and the new guys coming in did really well in the Asia Cup qualifiers. They scored really well, the top order clicked and all the bowlers did really well too.”
Path to Qualifier: Second spot in League 2
Oman were one of the top sides in League 2, and finished at the second place on the table. This helped them secure a direct qualification for the Qualifier.
They had 21 wins from their 36 games. With 44 points in their kitty, they were only six points behind the table-toppers Scotland.
Schedule
Ireland, 19 June - Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
UAE, 21 June - Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
Sri Lanka, 23 June - Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
Scotland, 25 June - Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
World Cup Record
Oman have never featured in a Men’s Cricket World Cup. The Gulf team achieved ODI status in April 2019, and played their first ODI against Namibia.
Despite this, they have some experience of ICC events. They qualified for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on two occasions. They played in the 2016 tournament in India and were knocked out in the group stage. Meanwhile, in 2021 they were the joint hosts along with UAE. On this occasion too, Oman failed to make it beyond the group stage.
Key Player: Bilal Khan
Veteran left-arm pacer Bilal Khan has played in all of Oman’s ODIs but one. He featured in the League 2 games and ended up as the leading wicket-taker across the competition, with 76 wickets to his name from 35 games.
These scalps came at a meagre average of 18.67 and included three five-fors. To add to this, his economy was merely 4.75.
Squad
Zeeshan Maqsood (c), Aqib Ilyas (vc), Jatinder Singh, Kashyap Prajapati, Shoaib Khan, Mohammed Nadeem, Sandeep Goud, Ayaan Khan, Suraj Kumar, Adeel Shafique, Naseem Khushi, Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Jay Odedra, Samay Shrivastav, Rafiullah