Shahzad Raza -
MUSCAT, Oct1 -
With a battery of tall fast bowlers steaming in at full speed under the watchful eyes of international coaches, Oman is confident of maintaining its wonderful record on home turf as it prepares to host the 5-Nation T20 Series involving Test country Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and Hong Kong.
Starting on Saturday, October 5, the much-anticipated series will serve as a perfect preparation for the 14-nation ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier scheduled to be held in UAE later this month.
Oman have enjoyed remarkable success in recent international events, remaining unbeaten when it hosted ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division Three back in 2018 beating quality sides like USA, Singapore, Kenya, Denmark and Uganda and then topping the table in WCL Division Two before losing to hosts Namibia in the final in April 2019. As a result, Oman is currently ranked 15th in ICC ODI rankings.
A lot of hard work has gone into preparing for two international tournaments and a series of competitive practice games have followed a long training camp in the midst of domestic T20 League.
“Our boys are in pretty good shape and faring well in practice games. The fast bowlers, in particular, have benefitted from coaching skills of Avishkar (Salvi) who has been working on finer details of their strengths and weaknesses. I have noticed that they are now bowling with much more confidence than before. That confidence is sure to help us in our forthcoming games,” said Duleep Mendis, Oman’s head coach.
When asked about the tougher teams in the T20 series, Mendis said all the sides were strong and would be hard to beat.
“You can’t take a Test team like Ireland lightly. They are all professional sides packed with seasoned campaigners. We are lucky that we have got the opportunity to play against strong sides before the World Cup Qualifier. This will add to our confidence going into the main ICC event later this month,” he added.
Oman squad: Zeeshan Maqsood (captain), Aqib Ilyas (Vice-captain), Jatinder Singh, Suraj Kumar, Khawar Ali, Sandeep Goud, Muhammed Naseem Khushi, Mehran Khan, Khurram Nawaz Khan, Sufyan Mahmood, Syed Amir Kaleem, Jay Odedara, Ahmed Fayyaz Butt, Kaleemullah and Bilal Khan.
Officials: Pankaj Khimji (chef de mission), Madhu Jesrani (manager), Dulip Mendis (head coach), Mazhar Saleem Khan (assistant coach), Ruwan Kalpage (spin bowling/fielding coach), Avishkar Salvi (fast bowling coach), Evert (team trainer), Zeeshan Siddiqui (video analyst).
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