Australia are all set to take on Oman in their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign opener at Kensington Oval, Barbados. The champions of 2021 edition of T20 World Cup are expected to win big against Oman but their captain Aqib Illyas oozes confidence ahead of the clash. Illyas wants to approach is as just another game. He also revealed that their head coach, former Sri Lankan captain Duleep Mendis has forbidden players from taking names of Australian players in the dressing room.
"Our head coach has decided that we won't even be mentioning the name of a single Australian player in our dressing-room as we prepare for the match," Illyas said in the pre-match press conference.
Oman will be facing Australia for the first time. The captain is confident of his team and has said that Australia have more to lose than them. The 31-year-old who won the battle against a cancerous tumour in his left ankle a few years ago has issued a warning for the Mitchell Marsh-led side.
"Once you step on to the field there are no big names, there's no one bigger than you on the field. It's another game for us. And we don't think we are going to play something extraordinary. It's just a team on the same level as what we are doing. They have done the same as what we are doing - we have qualified, they have qualified, it doesn't make much difference. We respect them of course," he said.
Oman spinners to dominate Australian batters?
On June 2, Oman lost a low-scoring closely-fought contest to Namibia in super over. Their spinners were effective against Namibian batters. He feels that Australia lack quality batters to counter their spin attack.
"You see how the ball was turning in the last match. The ball was staying low. With the Australian team, they used to have a few players with good techniques in the past like Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. But I don't think they have many now. They look to hit big. They only try to go for sixes. But every day is not the same day, and if we get the same wicket (as the one against Namibia) maybe it could be a problem for then," he said,
"Just like the way you saw how difficult it was for the West Indies against PNG. They struggled to chase 130-odd despite them having some of the biggest hitters in the side. So ,you know on a slower track with good quality spinners, the only thing we need to do is play with a big heart and put the ball in the right areas, because the ball doesn't know how big (he means in terms of status and reputation) the batter is. If it turns a bit or it stays low, the batter is in trouble."
Another big statement
Towards the end of the press conference, he was asked whether the ban on taking Australian players' names in Oman's dressing room would be lifted, he made a big statement.
"It depends how the game goes. It might happen that they might be taking our names. We respect them a lot as a team. But before the game, it's tactical to not get overawed by them. After the game, of course there are great players in their side, and we can learn a lot from them. But maybe even they might be able to learn something from us."
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