Oman defeated UAE by five wickets in their Men’s ODI World Cup Qualifier Group B match at Bulawayo Athletic Club on Wednesday. Electing to bowl first, Oman’s bowlers took seven wickets to restrict UAE to 227/8 in 50 overs. With the bat, Aqib Ilyas, Shoaib Khan and Mohammad Nadeem scored half-centuries each, along with a quick 41 from Ayaan Khan, taking Oman home with five wickets remaining and four overs to spare.
Oman didn’t have a bright start to their chase as Junaid Siddique took out openers Kashyap Prajapati and Jatinder Singh in quick succession. Ilyas and Shoaib batted carefully over the next 10 overs, before going for their shots. They went about six an over between overs 16-25 and got Oman to 101, adding 100 runs for the third wicket.
However, Oman fell into trouble when Aqib (53) was bowled by Rohan Mustafa in the 27th over, and Shoaib retired hurt at the end of that very over due to cramps, followed by the off-spinner coming back to take out captain Zeeshan Maqsood in the 30th over.
But Nadeem and Ayaan took the attacking route against UAE’s bowlers and brought up their fifty-run partnership off 47 balls. Though UAE got a breakthrough in the 43rd over when Aayan dismissed Ayaan for 41, Shoaib came back to take Oman over the line with Nadeem’s help, while also getting to his half-century.
Earlier, UAE’s batting innings saw an 87-run stand for the third wicket between Vriitya Aravind and Rameez Shahzad, followed by a brisk fifty by teenager Aayan.
Bilal Khan drew first blood for Oman when he got the UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem lbw for 8 in the third over of the morning. The very next over, Fayyaz Butt had Mustafa caught behind for the same score, and UAE were kept to 36/2 at the 10-over mark.
Aravind and Rameez built a partnership and brought calmness to UAE’s innings, but Rameez falling to Jay Odedra’s off-spin in the 25th over gave Oman a crucial breakthrough at the right time. From there, Oman clawed back by picking three wickets between overs 26-35 besides stifling the scoring rate. Aravind and Ali Naseer were cleaned up by Odedra’s brilliant off-spin, while Basil Hameed fell to Ayaan’s left-arm spin. When Fayyaz returned to account for Asif Khan in the 40th over, UAE were 154/7, and that’s when Aayan stepped in to hit 10 fours in his aggressive 58 not out to take the total over 200.
The victory put Oman at the top of the Group B points table with six points from three games, while UAE is still searching for their first win after three games.
