Oman vs Scotland, Match 6: Oman Quadrangular Series 2019 | Preview and Playing XI
Oman and Scotland will square off in the sixth and final T20 international of the Oman Quadrangular Series 2019 at Al Amarat on Sunday, February 17.
Scenarios: Scotland's chances of clinching the title depend on certain conditions; firstly the result of Ireland vs Netherlands earlier the same day. If the Dutch beat the Irish, then this contest will be nothing more than a dead rubber.
However, if Ireland manage to claim victory, then it all comes down to the Net Run Rate (NRR). In that case, Scotland need to beat Oman by a comprehensive margin to boost their NRR and emerge victorious.
Scotland
Scotland made an impressive comeback in the series and come into this clash on the back of an astonishing six-wicket win against Ireland. Despite this their fate in the series depends on other results.
Batting
The Scottish openers rectified their mistakes from the previous outing and came into the middle with the intent to gather some runs, which worked wonders as they chased down the monumental 181 run target with ease.
George Munsey (50) shared a 109 run opening wicket partnership with skipper Kyle Coetzer (71) to take them off to a flier. The momentum was then carried forward by Calum MacLeod (35*) and Craig Wallace (19*) to get them over the line.
Bowling
Mark Watt played a key role in limiting Ireland by picking wickets at regular intervals. The bowler finished with impressive figures of 3/26 in his quota of four overs and he will be expected to come out with the same intensity against Oman. Meanwhile, Alasdair Evans and Safyaan Sharif snared a wicket each, but were quite expensive, giving away 48 and 35 runs in their spells respectively. They will be expected to rectify this when they take on Oman.
Expected Playing XI
Kyle Coetzer (C), Matthew Cross (W), Calum MacLeod, Richie Berrington, Craig Wallace, Michael Leask, Hamza Tahir, Safyaan Sharif, Alasdair Evans, Mark Watt and George Munsey.
Oman
On the other hand, for Oman, the contest is nothing more than a matter of pride and they will aim to avoid the wooden spoon by defeating the Scots in their last fixture.
Batting
Oman's batting relies mainly on Jatinder Singh and Khurram Nawaz, both of whom are among the most consistent run-getters for the team. This was the case in the previous games as well, as the duo scored 63 and 58 respectively. Oman will also depend on Khawar Ali and Naseem Khushi to produce good knocks against the Scots.
Bowling
On the bowling front, Fayyaz Butt and Bilal Khan hold the key. Fayyaz picked up two wickets for just 19 runs in the opening game against Ireland and he will be Lalcheta's go-to man against the Scots. Bilal Khan is one of their most experienced bowlers and he will be expected to pick up a few scalps during the powerplay overs.
Sandeep Goud (2/36) was certainly a surprise package against the Netherlands, and was the only bowler to register his name among the wickets. The skipper will need him to come out with similar intent in the next game too.
Expected Playing XI
Ajay Lalcheta (C), Sandeep Goud, Naseem Khushi (W), Fayyaz Butt, Bilal Khan, Jay Odedra, Khawar Ali, Jatinder Singh, Aamir Kaleem, Khurram Nawaz and Mohammad Nadeem.