Colombo, February 13 With their hopes of advancing to the Super Eight all but dashed after two consecutive defeats, Ireland will look to Paul Stirling, their captain, to inspire them to defeat Oman in a T20 World Cup match between two teams at the bottom of Group B here on Saturday.
Both teams have suffered two losses and will be desperate to register their first victory in the tournament.
While Ireland lost to co-hosts Sri Lanka and Australia by 20 and 67 runs respectively, Oman was defeated by Zimbabwe by eight wickets and Sri Lanka by 105 runs.
Based on their experience in major tournaments, Ireland will start as favourites against Oman, a team primarily composed of players of Indian and Pakistani origin.
By Saturday, Ireland will know that they need to win convincingly to keep their slim chances of advancing in the tournament alive, while Oman will be looking to prove their worth after two heavy losses.
Ireland have struggled with their batting, with Stirling yet to perform well in the tournament, and much will depend on his form to set a high score.
Players like Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, and Curtis Campher need to convert their starts into big scores to strengthen Ireland's batting, which has been lacking in their two losses.
Left-arm spinner George Dockrell has been Ireland's best bowler in terms of economy and wickets so far, but he will need support from fast bowlers Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy, and spinners Matthew Humphreys and Gareth Delany.
Oman, on the other hand, has nothing to lose and will be hoping for a strong overall performance to upset Ireland and register their first win in the tournament.
In terms of head-to-head record, Ireland have a significant advantage. In their last five meetings, Ireland have won four times, while Oman has won only once, which was in October 2019.
Oman has also struggled with their batting, having scored only 103 and 120 for 9 against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka respectively.
Making their fourth appearance in the T20 showpiece, Oman has struggled against pace and extra bounce in Colombo.
Oman needs a strong batting performance from players like Jatinder Singh, Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, and big-hitter Vinayak Shukla.
Mohammad Nadeem, who didn't play their tournament opener against Zimbabwe, scored a half-century against Sri Lanka but it was not enough.
They will need to address these weaknesses if they want to spring a surprise like they did in their debut in 2016, when they defeated Ireland.
Oman needs a much-improved batting performance to give their bowling attack, their stronger suit, something to defend.
The Teams:
Ireland: Paul Stirling (c), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Ben Calitz, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Tim Tector, Lorcan Tucker (w), Ben White, Craig Young.
Oman: Jatinder Singh (c), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Wasim Ali, Karan Sonavale, Jiten Ramanandi, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Sufyan Mehmood, Nadeem Khan, Shah Faisal, Shakeel Ahmed, Mohammad Nadeem, Jay Odedra, Ashish Odedara, Shafiq Jan.
The match starts at 11 am.
