By Brian Thomas
The lung opener in the 7th edition of the T 20 World Cup between Oman and Papua New Guinea, ended a short while ago, with the home team Oman showing that they are a team to reckon with, as they beat PNG, by 10 wickets, inside 14 overs.
Put in to bat on a good pitch, PNG lost 2 wickets with no runs on the board. Opener Tony Ura, played onto a Bilal Khan delivery, to have the timber disturbed. One drop batter Lega Siaka obliged Kaleemullah with his first scalp when he went across to a straight delivery from Omani second seamer and was bowled neck and crop for no score.
An 81 run partnership for the third wicket between Skipper Assad Valla and Charles Amin brightened up the PNG hutch, but Amin displayed immaturity when he ran himself out for 40, and the flood gates opened again for Oman in the 12th over, with the visitors losing their 3rd wicket with the score on 81.
Thanks to skipper Assad Valla who looked impressive with his 56 in 43 deliveries, PNG, looked good on 102 for 4 wickets in the 13th over.
Disaster stuck and that too in an unexpected manner when the Omani Captain took 3 wickets in one over, with his gentle orthodox left-arm spin, and then the rest of the PNG batters folded up for just 129 runs for 9 wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
Sese Bau was the third PNG batter to get into double figures with a hard-fought 13. The rest sorry to state looked ordinary at this level.
Zeeshan Maqsood got his career-best 4 for 20 in his quota of 4 overs, whilst Bilal Khan 2 for 16 and Kaleemullah 2 for 19 got amongst the wickets for the hosts.
Oman reached its target with ease. Jatinda Singh made an unbeaten 73, with Aqib Ilyas 50 not out, and Oman earn their 2 points in the qualifying rounds with ease, with 6.2 overs at their disposal. This big win from a run rate viewpoint is a big advantage to the home team.
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