Underdogs Oman, coached by Sri Lankan former Test Captain Duleep Mendis, stunned the Irish cricket team by defeating them in the preliminary round of the ICC T20 World Cup at Dharamsala yesterday. Oman's Zeeshan Maqsood took an extraordinary catch, which could rival any fielder, and Oman pacer Munis Ansari bowled some accurate yorkers and slow bowls in a slinging action, recalling Lasith Malinga's best days in international cricket.
The other Rhodes
You have seen Jonty Rhodes do it. You have seen Ricky Ponting do it, even in his mid-30s in the IPL. On Wednesday evening in Dharamsala, an unknown entity from Oman showed flying skills that proved his team could not be taken lightly. After Paul Stirling collected boundaries with a few crunching drives early on, another one of them ended his innings. He drove left-arm spinner Aamir Kaleem towards extra cover where Zeeshan Maqsood flung to his left and plucked the ball out of its route with a stunning one-handed catch.
The screamer
With the chase was swinging from one side to the other, Amir Ali, leading Oman's counterattack, clobbered a short ball that was going well over the midwicket boundary, but Gary Wilson also changed the course of the ball. He went back as far as he could near the rope and then almost flew backwards over the boundary to claw the ball back into the playing area. For a fraction of a second, he had even taken the catch, but saving five runs proved to be useful too.
The other Malinga
Even as Lasith Malinga's availability for the World T20 remains doubtful, the tournament glimpsed another version of him. Oman pacer Munis Ansari was already drawing the attention of the TV commentators with his slingy action, reminiscent of Malinga, and then he started bowling accurate yorkers and well-disguised slower deliveries. He topped it all in the last over of Ireland's innings when he splattered Kevin O'Brien's stumps with a dead-straight delivery that the batsman had backed away for and missed completely. The ball crashed into the stumps and uprooted the leg pole.
The swipe
The Oman openers - Zeeshan Maqsood and Khawar Ali - had started taking the Ireland bowlers apart when Kevin O'Brien came into the attack. O'Brien was dispatched for a four and a six in the beginning of his second over by Khawar, who was growing in confidence. But Khawar got carried away and in an attempt to steer the ball to third man, edged the ball onto the stumps. What would have proved more dangerous, though, was the swipe he made with his bat in frustration after the dismissal; it nearly took a part of O'Brien with it, but he skipped out of the way in time.
(espncricinfo)
