United Arab Emirates – Oman’s tour of the UAE for the triangular series against Namibia and the hosts concluded successfully on Monday. They played a total of five matches, the final one being a rescheduled game against Namibia from last year.
Oman won three of their four games in the triangular series, the most for any side competing. Both their opponents boasted strong sides of their own, with the UAE in particular posing a tremendous threat to the visitors.
The UAE entered the series on home soil after winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Oman to book a spot in the showpiece event later this year. Oman played them twice and were victorious on both occasions.
Although they fell short in the final game against Namibia, injuries to key players played a significant role in the same. In the other game that slipped away, Oman had Namibia at 103/8 before encountering a Gerhard Erasmus in the form of his life.
Some of the individual performances for Oman over the two weeks were not only eye-catching, but also historic. Bilal Khan picked up a total of 17 wickets over the five-game course. Two matches saw him register five-wicket hauls and he set a new record for career-best figures with his 5/31 showing against the UAE on March 5. Bilal also reached a personal milestone of 50 ODI wickets for Oman in this tournament.
Shoaib Khan was the pick of the tour with the bat. He followed up his unbeaten century against Namibia in the fourth game with a brilliant 86 against the same opponents to cap the series off.
There were other positives too. Kashyap Prajapati looked comfortable at the top of the batting order and Jatinder Singh was back to his best with a stunning 74-run knock in the final game of the series. Khawar Ali was consistently excellent with the ball and bat, and Kaleemullah chipped in with some crucial wickets of his own to provide cutting-edge to Oman’s pace attack.
All in all, Oman managed to put a disappointing month of cricket in February behind them, where they won just three of 11 games played. The setbacks faced in the ODI series against the UAE and the Quadrangular series involving Ireland, Nepal, UAE and themselves resurfaced later in the month, in a sub-par showing at the World T20 Qualifiers held at home.
Oman was unable to seal a trip to Australia later in the year. But with a change in format and venue, they adopted a positive mindset and collectively rallied to produce a top-class display of fighting cricket in the UAE. The batting was fantastic, the bowling inspired.
All the five games were a part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2, a competition that Oman now leads by 18 points thanks to recent performances. The team is high on confidence and Oman remain frontrunners to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India, 2023.