FANTASY
Follow UsJust as the Indian marquee league (IPL) saw its conclusion, the biggest event in the international circuit, the T20 World gets underway. The qualifier round of the T20 World Cup 2021 kick-off from 17th of October and the home team Oman will take on Papua New Guinea (PNG) at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground.
Papua New Guinea and Oman will be facing each other for the first time in T20Is. In ODIs, Oman have won all their four matches played against PNG. Irrespective of that, PNG in T20Is since 2019 have an exceptional record as they have a win/loss ratio of 3.5 as compared to Oman’s 1.4.
SUGGESTED TEAM
While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from Cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre Based on algorithms, we have come up with one team
GROUND DETAILS
In T20Is since 2020, there have been eight matches played at the Al Amerat ground (Ministry-1) and all of them were in a single tournament in February 2020. There were no International matches played and only two T20 matches were played between Sri Lanka and Oman in October. On an average, 148 runs have been scored in the first innings in Al Amerat. Teams batting first and chasing have won four matches apiece.
There hasn’t been much difference between the pacers and spinners in T20Is since 2020 in Al Amerat. Just that, the spinners have had the slight upper hand. The pacers have bagged 43.8 percent of the wickets and spinners have picked up 49 percent. In rest of the aspects, both pacers and spinners have been neck-to-neck.
SUGGESTED CAPTAIN
The skipper of PNG Asadollah Vala, has been in sensational touch in recent times. Not only with the bat, but with the ball as well, his contributions have been valuable. In T20Is since 2019, he has scored 377 runs at a strike rate of 120.8 with three 50+ scores. To add more, in this time frame he has picked up 15 wickets at a balls/wicket ratio of 13.2. The ability to contribute with both bat and ball on a consistent basis makes him our choice of captain.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts, Vala could score 18-28 runs and bag 0-1 wicket against Oman
X-FACTOR
Norman Vanua in recent times has been swapped in a lot of batting positions, but that hasn’t hampered the all-rounders confidence with the bat. Primarily a bowler, Vanua has been the pinch-hitter for PNG, a Sunil Narine-esque. In T20Is since 2019, he has had 21 wickets at a bowling strike rate of 14.3. The interesting part is, when he opens the batting he has scored over 100 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 194.4.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts, Vanua could pick up 0-1 wicket against Oman
One of the most exciting players to watch out for in the contest between Oman and PNG is the right-handed dashing PNG wicket-keeper Tony Ura. In T20Is since 2019, Ura has scored close to 700 runs at an average of 46.8 and strike rate of 146.9. In this time frame, he has hit six 50+ scores including a 107* against the Philippines in 2019. The explosive batsman is for sure an X-factor.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts, Ura could score 24-36 runs against Oman
Jatinder Singh as an opener has scored runs consistently for Oman in T20Is since 2019. In 17 innings, he has scored 497 runs at an average of 35.5 and strike rate of 127.4. In this time period, no other batsman has scored more runs than Jatinder for Oman.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts, Jatinder could score 18-26 runs against PNG
