Staff Reporter.
Oman thrashed Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets in the opening game of the Men’s T20 World Cup in Muscat, Oman.
Having been put in, Papua New Guinea were 0-2 before recovering to 102-3, but another collapse restricted them to 129-9, with captain Assad Vala top-scoring with 56.
In reply Jatinder Singh made 72 off 42 balls, and Aqib Ilyas a 43-ball 50, as Oman cruised home with 38 balls left.
Scotland play Bangladesh in the second game in Group B from 15:00 BST.
Papua New Guinea – who had lost their previous 10 games in white-ball cricket and were making their World Cup debut, resulting in tears during the national anthems – lost both openers for ducks, before Vala shared a PNG-record stand of 81 with Charles Amini.
Amini was run out at the non-striker’s end as he looked to take a quick single, and that sparked a collapse of seven wickets for 37 runs, with Oman captain and spinner Zeeshan Maqsood claiming 4-20, the best figures by an Oman bowler in T20 cricket.
Singh and Ilyas – who had never batted together for Oman before – hit 12 fours and five sixes as they became just the third men’s team to win a T20 World Cup game by 10 wickets.
Oman: Jatinder Singh, Khawar Ali, Aqib Ilyas, Zeeshan Maqsood (capt), Naseem Khushi (wk), Kashyap Prajapati, Mohammad Nadeem, Ayan Khan, Sandeep Goud, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan
Papua New Guinea: Tony Ura, Assad Vala (capt), Charles Amini, Lega Siaka, Norman Vanua, Sese Bau, Simon Atai, Kiplin Doriga (wk), Nosaina Pokana, Damien Ravu, Kabua Morea.