Oman elects to bowl against Ireland in do-or-die T20 World Cup clash
Oman chose to bowl against Ireland in a do-or-die Group B match of the 2026 T20 World Cup at the SSC. With both teams needing a win to stay in Super 8 contention, key changes were made to the playing XIs.
Colombo: Oman won the toss and elected to bowl against Ireland in their third match of the 2026 T20 World Cup here at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) on Saturday.
This Group B encounter is a do or die for both Ireland and Oman. Whoever loses will be out of contention for Super 8 stage.
After winning the toss, Oman Captain Jatinder Singh said, “Yeah, we’re gonna bowl first since it’s a new pitch, so we just wanna bowl first. Yeah, true. We just want to focus on small, small things. What we have done, I mean, the last two games, the batting didn’t click, so we’re just focusing to bat in the right way.”
“Just try to be in the present and try not to make mistakes. Yeah, absolutely. We never expected that SSC have got a bounce that way. But yeah, in a power play, if you lose about four wickets, almost the team’s height is gone, so it is difficult to come back in the game. There are two changes. We have Shakeel and Ashish coming to the side,” he added.
Spinner Joshua Little is back in the Ireland playing XI after missing the previous match.
While Ireland captain Locran Tucker said, “Yeah, I think in these situations, you really have to think positively. We see this as a good opportunity to get our club in and really get some momentum in the last game against Zimbabwe.”
Speaking about Paul Stirling being ruled out of the tournament due to injury, Tucker said, ” Obviously a massive shame and such a big figure in our team, but I think it’s just something that’s happened. It’s unfortunate. We have to try to move on and compete otherwise. No, I think we talked so much about the character, about our reserve. I think it’s important as part of being a professional to come back and really perform when you haven’t got it so well. So I think we’ll be looking to do that tonight.”
Playing XIs
Ireland: Ross Adair, Tim Tector, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk/c), Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Joshua Little
Oman: Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh (c), Hammad Mirza, Ashish Odedara, Mohammad Nadeem, Jiten Ramanandi, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Nadeem Khan, Sufyan Mehmood, Shah Faisal, Shakeel Ahmed
