Oman registered back to back wins against Kenya and Singapore on two consecutive days defeating the former five wickets earlier and the latter by 4 wickets in the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 matches played in Amerat.
In the second match played against Singapore on Saturday, hosts Oman won the toss and put the opposition in to bat. Fayaz Butt struck with the first ball of the 11th over when he had A. Mutreja caught behind by wicketkeeper Suraj Kumar for 8, then Zeeshan Maqsood opening batsman A. Dutta and R. Rohan in quick succession. Bilal Khan who was the star of Oman’s bowling in the opening match claimed 3 for 31 from his 8 overs.
The only noteworthy partnership of the Singapore batting was between Manpreet Singh and C R Suryawanshi who score 19 and 37 runs respectively, The Janak Prakash who put up a fight fell to Bilal Khan caught by Aqib Ilyas for 17 to take his individual wicket haul to 7 in the two matches Oman has played so fat. Bilal then got rid of A. Krishna caught behind for 6. Singapore thus ended their innings with the scorecard reading 185 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Needing 186 to win Oman lost Aqib Ilyas early caught by Murteja off J. Prakash for 11 with the total on 25. Suraj Kumar and Mohammed Nadeem then fell in quick succession with Jatinder Singh playing a steady knock before he was out to Manpreet Singh of the bowling of A. Krishna for 41 leaving Oman reeling at 5 for 93, leaving the door open for skipper Zeeshan Maqsood to come in and take over the proceedings, Zeeshan was declared the man of the match for his knock of 43 not out along with tail ender Fayaz Butt who gave him good support to score a valuable 26 and see the side home in 37.4 overs.
“The boys are keeping me on the toes but I don’t mind the nerves if we are ending up on the winning side. I am sure we are going to be a better side as the tournament progresses,” he added.
Oman will now have two days’ rest before its third game on Tuesday against Denmark.
“Fortunately we have got two days’ break for our boys to have some rest and work on their game and step out in a better frame of mind against Denamrk.”
Captain Zeeshan Maqsood, who was adjudged man of the match, said he was playing as per the team’s plan which put more responsibility on senior guys in the side.
“With wickets falling around me I knew I had to stay out in the middle and play the role my coach has assigned me. He wants me to bat in the middle order and anchor the innings through to the very end and I am glad I was able to do this today,” explained Maqsood.
Commenting on his team’s two victories, he said the boys were looking forward to the tougher games ahead.
“We have won two out of two but we know we have tougher games ahead and we must perform better to strengthen our chances of winning this tournament,” he added.
Oman captain said his team had suffered due to poor net run rate in previous assignments and he was mindful of the fact.
“We want to win all our games but we must also keep an eye on the net run rate which may prove crucial in the end. A lot of focus is going to be placed on this in our next games in the competition,” explained Maqsood.
In their opening match against Kenya on Friday, Oman continued from where they left off in Division Two in Namibia defeating the visitors by five wickets on Friday.
Oman who beat Kenya twice earlier this year were no match for the home side on this occasion either, slipping to 8 for 3 in the first Powerplay before eventually succumbing for 164 in the stipulated 50 overs.
Oman pacer Bilal Khan, who took a fiver the last time these two teams clashed, struck with the fifth ball of the match by beating Alex Obanda for pace and knocking back his stumps for a duck.
Kenya also struggled with Oman’s other pacer Kaleemullah’s height and bounce as a series of maidens built pressure, resulting in another wicket for Bilal. Jatinder Singh standing at gully picked up his second catch in the following over as Kaleemullah followed up Bilal’s early strikes to get Dhiren Gondaria for the first of his four wickets. Kenya then struggled throughout their innings, but fought back valiantly to last out the 50 overs.
With 165 on the board to win Oman got off to a flying start with Aqib Ilyas, who stroked five boundaries in his 22 off 20 balls before falling leg before to Nelson Odhiambo. Jatinder Singh who opened the batting with Aqib Ilyas grinded out 33 off 49 balls before he fell prey to Bhudia’s spin, opening the door for skipper Zeeshan Maqsood to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Requiring 31 runs to win over the final 18 overs and with six wickets in hand, Oman adopted a cautious approach dragging the match until the 43rd over when Zeeahan Maqsood, who is known to be a big hitter of the ball finally brought up his half-century off 93 balls, ending the match with his fifth boundary.
Oman now top the table 4 points with two wins from two matches, and will clash with Denmark on Tuesday, November 13.