Colombo, February 13 After suffering two defeats and now without captain Paul Stirling due to a knee injury, Ireland will aim to keep their dwindling Super Eight hopes alive when they take on fellow strugglers Oman in a Group B clash of the T20 World Cup 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 were defeated by Zimbabwe by eight wickets and Sri Lanka by 105 runs.
Adding to the woes, Ireland were relying on Stirling to inspire, but he was ruled out of the remainder of the T20 World Cup after sustaining ligament damage to his right knee, ahead of the Oman match.
Stirling injured his right knee while completing a catch during Ireland's 67-run loss to Australia here on Wednesday. The experienced captain aggravated the injury later in the same match when he attempted a quick single after returning to the crease to bat.
Despite the setback, Ireland will have an advantage over Oman, a team primarily consisting of players from India and Pakistan.
Ireland know that they will have to win convincingly to keep their slim chance of remaining in the tournament afloat, while Oman will be looking to prove a point after two heavy losses.
With Stirling absent, the onus will be on players like Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, and Curtis Campher to convert their starts into big scores to bolster Ireland's batting department, which has been lacking in the two losses.
Uncapped youngster Sam Topping, who has been named as Stirling's replacement, will also have a big role to play.
In bowling, left-arm spinner George Dockrell has been Ireland's best bowler in terms of economy and wickets, 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, have nothing to lose and will be hoping for an all-round show to upset Ireland and register their maiden win in the tournament.
In their head-to-head record, Ireland are significantly ahead. In their last five meetings, the Irish have won four times, while Oman has registered one victory, which came in October 2019.
Oman has also struggled with the bat, posting just 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 effort 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, waged a lone battle against Sri Lanka, scoring a half-century, but the effort was not enough.
They will need to quickly address these weaknesses if they are to spring a surprise like they did on 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 (from):
Ireland: Sam Topping, 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.
Match starts at 11am.
