Oman remain in contention for WC Qualifiers berth

DUBAI: Oman, Scotland and Papua New Guinea contested the tri-series held at the United Arab

Emirates between April 9 and April 16.

Oman won 2 games in the tournament and both of them were convincing victories over PNG. In the first encounter, Oman restricted them to 224-9 and chased the target down with 7 wickets and 35 balls to spare.

In the other, Oman erected a massive score of 277-8 and bowled PNG out for 192 in 44.3 overs.

Further, the games that slipped away were matters of fine margins. In their first game of the series, Oman cleaned Scotland out for 215. However, an untimely run-out coupled with an inspired effort on the field from their opponents meant that they fell 4 runs short at the end of a thrilling run chase.

In the other match, Oman fought hard until the very end to defend a first-innings total of 225, but a brilliant 37-run knock from Mark Watt sealed the game in his side’s favour with just 1 ball to go.

Jatinder Singh had a fantastic tour with the bat for Oman. He scored 259 runs over the 4-game stretch,

including 2 half-centuries and 1 magnificent century. Jatinder’s 118-run knock against PNG on April 12,

2022 is the highest ever individual tally for Oman in ODIs. He showcased his expansive repertoire of strokes throughout the campaign, forcing the bowlers to constantly tinker with their line and length and also ran hard between the wickets to accumulate runs with relatively risk-free shots.

With the ball, Bilal Khan continued his hot streak and picked up 13 wickets in the tour - the highest

individual tally of the tri-series. He claimed his third five-wicket haul in the space of 9 games in the final match of the tournament. The last time he went wicketless in an ODI for Oman was on September 28, 2021.

Kaleemullah complemented Bilal superbly in all the games and went on to pick up 7 wickets himself. Both of them were equally effective with the new ball and the old, be it at the start of the innings, in the middle or at the death.

There were other positives too. Khawar Ali and skipper Zeeshan Maqsood played the supporting act in

Oman’s games against PNG expertly, allowing Jatinder to truly dominate the bowling attack. Ayaan Khan collected a total of 155 runs, with his 68 in the first match very nearly proving enough to take Oman over the finish line. Kashyap Prajapati and Mohammad Nadeem were excellent in the third game, as was Fayyaz Butt in the first two.

Overall, Oman continued right where they left off in their last trip to the UAE and played an impressive

brand of aggressive cricket in the Emirates, one that was high on quality and competitive spirit. With 4

games to go, they lead the ICC Men’s CWC League 2 table by 16 points, having played 16 matches more than second-placed Scotland and look a great bet to qualify for the ODI World Cup Qualifiers in India next year.