OMA VS AUS T20I

Right then, Australia have got their campaign underway with a win and are building up nicely to that clash against eternal rivals England in a couple of days' time. The only downside was Mitchell Starc hobbling off the playing field but later on it was confirmed as just a cramp which is great news. We have had 10 matches so far and there are still a few teams who haven't yet taken the field, one of them being Pakistan who will play the next game of the tournament against an in-form USA side. That match will be played on Thursday, 6 June in Dallas, Texas and the match will begin at 9 pm IST (3.30 pm GMT) but you can tune in a lot sooner for the build-up. Cheers!

The victorious skipper of Australia, Mitchell Marsh says to begin the tournament with a victory is always a good thing. Says that the contribution of Marcus Stoinis was key for the side as he took the game deep and kept landing those big shots. Informed that it was just a bit of a cramp for Mitchell Starc and nothing to be worried about. Adds that they are looking forward to playing England next up and they are excited with the wickets being the way they are as a closer game between Oman and Australia is good for the game in the bigger picture.

The captain of Oman, Aqib Ilyas says the tournament is set up good and losing in the Super Over and doing then doing well against a big team is good. Adds that the credit goes to the bowlers and just that one over where Marcus Stoinis got a life and then got 26 off the over changed the game. Mentions that they have good spinners in the side and even the pacers bowl good but it's just that one fielding mishap happened. On his catch, he says that somewhile back, Zeeshan Maqsood took one stellar catch and he wanted to replicate that and wanted to do something magical against the Aussies. Adds that they changed their plans and tried to bowl away from the slot but it was a bit late and goes on to say that they have quality batters and it is just the big occasion that has got the better of them. Ends by saying that they are looking forward to the next game against Scotland who are a team they have played against quite a lot.

Marcus Stoinis is the Player of the Match for his fine all-round showing. He says that it is a nice start and they are happy to get the win and everybody got to bowl. Adds that he was looking to hit the ball hard along the ground and then he picked his bowlers and took them on. Mentions that it was a bit harder to face the spinners rather than the pacers as the ball was keeping up and down for them more. Adds that he bowled a lot of cross seemed deliveries as the balls were keeping low occasionally so he tried to mix it with the bouncers as well.

The Presentation ceremony...

Oman will look back at this game and they will think that they could have really pushed Australia down to the wire in this game but that's where the difference between the top teams and the rest of the pack lies, they make you pay even if you give them half a chance. Oman were brilliant with the ball for about two-thirds of the game and then with the bat as well, the middle order and even the tail managed to get some big hits away. They simply lost too many wickets in the Powerplay which pegged them back and from there on, it was always going to be a bridge too far. Ayaan Khan starred with a 36-run knock and Mehran Khan got a fine cameo of 27 runs from jsut 16 balls as Oman managed to avoid getting bundled out and scored a few useful runs towards the end.

Having put on 164 runs on the back of a scintillating knock from Marcus Stoinis and a gritty fifty from David Warner, Australia managed to pick up wickets in the Powerplay. Mitchell Starc was upbeat after a fine few performances at the backend of the Indian T20 League and picked up a wicket in the first over and set the tone for the rest of the bowlers. Marcus Stoinis followed his heroics with the bat by picking up a couple of quick wickets and the Adam Zampa followed it up with a couple of wickets of his own. Zampa did get hit for a few boundaries and so did Josh Hazlewood but by then the damage had been done. Stoinis finished with three wickets and became only the third player in a Men's T20 World Cup game to score a fifty and pick three wickets as Nathan Ellis closed out the innings with a couple of wickets to his name as well.

Australia are up and running in their quest to hold three major Men's international accolades at the same time having already bagged the World test Championship and the ODI World Cup last year but it was a hard-fought win against a gritty Oman side. It might look straightforward on paper given the 39-run victory margin but the Aussies had to dig deep, especially with the bat to get this win.

Low full toss in middle, Kaleemullah edges this towards deep point for a single. Australia wins this by 39 runs.

Yorker in middle, Bilal Khan drills this to long off and takes one.

Good length outside off, Bilal Khan swings and misses.

Bilal Khan is the last man in for Oman.

OUT! TAKEN THIS TIME! Short-pitched wide of off, not a lot of pace to work with. Shakeel Ahmed cuts this and lands it dropping onto David Warner at deep point.Warner takes a good catch as this was dropping onto him.

Full and wide outside off, Kaleemullah swings at it and gets an outside edge towards short third. Marcus Stoinis tries to gather this while backpaddling and gets a fingertip to it but drops it eventually. Batters take one.

Fuller one on off, Shakeel Ahmed rolls this to long off for one.

Back of a lenght around off, Kaleemullah lofts this over extra-cover and takes two. Mitchell Marsh looks to take it running backwards and puts his body on the line to catch this but the ball landed away from his reach.

Good length in middle, Kaleemullah slogs this into the empty pockets at deep mid-wicket for a couple.