ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019, Playoff 4: Hong Kong v Oman – Preview, likely XIs, prediction

Things have taken a turn for the worse for Oman over the last week. Having looked favourites to make it to the Big Dance, as the Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 is called in Australia, Oman are now in the last chance saloon. Win against Hong Kong on Wednesday, and they can still make to Australia. Lose, and perhaps the most fancied side leading into the tournament will be left with nothing to show for their efforts over the last few weeks.

Oman are in this predicament after being thumped, well and truly, by Namibia in their play-off on Tuesday. Namibia opted to bat, put on a tricky total, and then ensured scoreboard pressure did most of the job in a difficult chase with high stakes. Their 54-run win meant they have, along with Netherlands, Papua New Guinea and Ireland, joined the World Cup in Australia. Wednesday will decided the last two teams to make it there.

Having beaten Hong Kong by a resounding seven wickets in their group stage clash in Abu Dhabi, Oman will draw some hope of making it to the tournament. However, things have changed drastically since then. What was once a professional, unshakeable unit now seem, under pressure, prone to errors. Their batsmen can’t buy a run, and their bowlers haven’t got the breakthrough at the right times. It’s all a bit hazy, and Oman really need to find their form earlier in the tournament if they are to make it through Wednesday.

Hong Kong will have taken note of all this. They had a fairly curious group campaign. They had two defeats to start their campaign, but then won three of their remaining matches, thumping Nigeria in their final match, to ensure their net run-rate didn’t suffer too much. But there are doubts surrounding the side’s quality, especially in big moments.

Kinchit Shah, the vice-captain, has been known to be reliable with the bat, and he will be crucial to their hopes, with support from the likes of Nizakat Khan, Haroon Arshad and Waqas Barkat. Unfortunately, at the outset, it seems the team don’t have the gumption needed to make it through, but pressure can do wonderous things, and anything could yet happen on Wednesday.

Head to head

Oman dominate this rivalry in this format. In 7 T20Is over the years, going back to their first in 2015, Oman have won 6. Hong Kong’s only victory came in November 2015 – in Abu Dhabi – and thereafter, Oman has been on a four-match winning streak, including two victories in October this year.

Key players

Kinchit Shah (Hong Kong): The Hong Kong vice-captain is the fulcrum of the side. He comes in at No. 3 usually, and has scored 219 runs in 6 matches so far. He is their top-scorer by some distance. He will need to repeat his heroics one last time to ensure Hong Kong can make it to the big tournament next year.

Jatinder Singh (Oman): Oman have relied heavily on big opening stands this tournament, and the absence of it, with Jatinder dismissed first ball, well and truly hamstrung them in the play-off against Namibia. Despite that duck, Jatinder is the top run-scorer of the side, and tomorrow, he will be desperate to make amends.

Likely XIs

Hong Kong: Nizakat Khan, Aizaz Khan (c), Kinchit Shah, Haroon Arshad, Simandeep Singh, Waqas Barkat, Scott McKechnie (wk), Nasrulla Rana, Kyle Christie, Ehsan Khan, Mohammad Ghazanfar

Oman: Khawar Ali, Jatinder Singh, Aaqib Ilyas, Zeeshan Maqsood (c), Aamir Kaleem, Suraj Kumar (wk), Sandeep Goud, Khurram Nawaz, Mohammad Nadeem, Fayyaz Butt, Bilal Khan

Prediction

With pressure a factor, these are always hard to call. But Oman could recapture their form earlier in the tournament, and seize their final opportunity for Australia.