NEWS
Follow UsAhead of their second match of the 2024 T20 World Cup against Australia on June 5 (Wednesday), Oman skipper Aqib Ilyas has revealed that head coach Duleep Mendis has urged his team to not mention the name of a single Australian player in the dressing room. Australia are one of the red-hot favourites to lift the trophy but Ilyas doesn’t want to overthink and put his team under extra pressure.
“It's a big thing, first of all, to be at the main stage and now playing against the top side such as Australia. So, it is a good experience for the team and hopefully all the big names, all the big things, they are outside the field. Once you step into the field, there is no big name, there is no one bigger than you at the field,” said Ilyas.
“It's another game for us and we don't think that we are going to play someone, something extraordinary. It's a game, we have to take it as a game. Like we took on Namibia, unfortunately, some narrow escapes and some mishaps happened and we lost the game. But yeah, we have to take the positives from the last game and we move on to one of the positive games now. And boys are really pumped up because these are the moments when you come up against the top sides, that is when you get highlighted all over the world.
“We have a lot of opportunity and the thing is we don't have much to lose because they have a lot of experience, they have played this game over the years and they might have chances of failure, there might be any upset in the World Cup. So, every time there is an upset in the World Cup you come to see and the weather, how it is behaving - anything can happen.”
Talking more about not dwelling on the stars in the Australian team, Ilyas added: “I don't have to go and tell them as a captain that you are going to face Starc. Already it comes to your mind when you are playing some top bowlers or top cricketers. It comes into your mind and when being a captain, I go and tell them you are going to face Starc tomorrow, obviously if I say you have to be very positive, it comes to your mind.
“It's been very positive from the management also, from the coach, he said we don't even take their names also - it's just a team that has come and still they are at the same level what we are doing. Because we have also qualified, they have also qualified one team is going to be the champion so it doesn't make a much difference, though we respect them, what they have made in the past they have done really well. That is why they are named as world champions also.
“So, for us, it's just a team that we have to play on. No doubt there are big names, but our boys, what I say is if they take on Starc tomorrow, imagine someone taking on Starc or any of the top bowlers, how much highlight he will get. Starc and all, they are already highlighted in the world. They already have, but what they will be going through, if the teams like us, they take them on.”
Oman are coming into this match having lost their first game against Namibia in the Super Over. Despite getting bowled out for just 109, Oman put up a phenomenal fight in the second innings before getting outclassed by David Wiese and Gerhard Erasmus in the Super Over.
“I think we can work on more of the plans. I think we couldn't execute the plan properly and we didn't assess the condition at that moment because the wicket was slow, I feel. We could have worked more on our slow balls or anything but the thing is we went on with one of the plans. We tried to do one or two plans but they didn't work.”
Oman have some quality spinners in their set-up and Ilyas feels they can take Australia down by bowling spin. “You see the last match, how the ball was turning and staying low in the last match. These teams had a few good technique players in the past like Smith and Labuschagne but I don't think they have many now.
“They look to hit big. Everyone tries to go for sixes but every day it is not the same day and if the same wicket is there, maybe it can be a problem for them. As you could see PNG bowling against West Indies, they were difficult to chase 130 runs even on having one of the biggest hitters in the side.
"So, on a slower track, on a slow wicket, with good quality spinners, only thing is we have to play with a big heart and we have to put it on the right areas. It's just about the areas because the ball doesn't know how big the batsman is in front of it. If it turns a bit, it stays low or anything happens, the batsman is gone.”
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