Oman captain Aqib Ilyas exuded confidence during his media interaction ahead of T20 World Cup 2024 clash with Australia. Ilyas maintained his team aren’t going to be overawed by the names they are going to face representing Australia, a nation that has won eight cricket world titles (six ODI World Cups, one World Test Championship and one T20 World Cup).
Oman may have lost the contest on Wednesday in Barbados but they didn’t make it easy for Australia. Ilyas later blamed the media for highlighting “only the negatives” from his press conference.
“The thing with the media is that they don’t show the positive things we said about them (Australia), they only show the negatives,” Ilyas said when asked about his comments on not being overwhelmed by Australia. “Obviously they’re top players, we respect them as cricketers like we respect everyone, but when we come out on to the field no one is bigger than you.”
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Oman opted to bowl first and didn’t allow Australia to run amok. The big-hitting trio of Travis Head (12), Mitchell Marsh (14) and Glenn Maxwell (0) was kept quiet and a measured fifty from David Warner (56 off 51) followed by a quickfire 67 not out from Marcus Stoinis propelled Australia to a decent 164/5 in 20 overs.
Oman though never looked in the hunt as they kept losing wickets regularly, failing to stitch a decent partnership to be limited to 125/9 in the chase.
Ahead of the match, Ilyas had said they are treating this match as ‘another game’.
“Once you step into the field, there is no big name, there is no one bigger than you at the field. It’s another game for us and we don’t think that we are going to play someone extraordinary,” Ilyas had said.
“I don’t have to go and tell them as a captain that you are going to face (Mitchell) Starc. Already it comes to your mind when you are playing some top bowlers or top cricketers. So it’s been very positive from the management [and] also from the coach, he said we don’t even take their names – it’s just a team that has come and still they are at the same level what we are doing. We have also qualified, they have also qualified, one team is going to be the champion so it doesn’t make much difference, though we respect them and) what they have (achieved) in the past. That is why they are named as world champions,” he added.
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