Oman cricket team (Source: Twitter)
With May 1, 2024, being the cut-off limit conveyed by the ICC to send over each participating teams’ 15-member preliminary draft, Oman have released theirs too.
The 2024 T20 World Cup will be Oman’s third, having debuted way back in 2016, where they could not qualify for the Super 10 despite winning their first game against Ireland by a couple of wickets with as many deliveries to spare, which was one of the upsets of the season. The same fate ensued in the 2021 edition which they co-hosted with UAE. This time around, and they’ll be having another crack at the marquee event.
Aqib Ilyas, who made his debut in 2015 and acted as a deputy, was made Oman’s new captain for the imminent T20 World Cup to be played in June, later this year. Former skipper, Zeeshan Maqsood, who captained his side to the final of the ACC Men’s T20I Premier Cup 2024, has his spot reserved. The batters coming below Ilyas and Maqsood comprise Kashyap Prajapati, the Indian-born batter who scored a superb 97-ball 103-run knock in a losing cause against Zimbabwe at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in 2023, and Naseem Khushi with wicketkeeper-batter Pratik Athavale and Ayaan Khan to most probably feature lower down.
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Once more, the bowling lineup will be led by left-arm yorker specialist Bilal Khan, supported by bowlers such as Kaleemullah and Fayyaz Butt, in addition to Shakeel Ahmad’s left-arm orthodox. A total of eight members from Oman’s previous T20 World Cup campaign feature in the 15-member squad, with the bulk of them featuring in the recently concluded ACC Men’s T20I Premier Cup 2024.
Opening batter Jatinder Singh and leggie Samay Shrivastava are among the prominent ones which find themselves in the reserves for now.
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Oman’s squad: Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Kashyap Prajapati, Pratik Athavale (wk), Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Naseem Khushi (wk), Mehran Khan, Bilal Khan, Rafiullah, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Shakeel Ahmad
Reserves: Jatinder Singh, Samay Shrivastava, Sufyan Mehmood, Jay Odedra