Sports
Sri Lanka take on Oman today
The first T-20 International between Oman and Sri Lanka will take place today at Al Amerat with the game getting underway at 2pm local time, which is 3:30 pm Sri Lanka time. The second game of the two match series will be played on Saturday and it will be played under lights starting at 8pm.
Not much is known about the Oman side. They comprise mostly Indians and Pakistanis working in Oman but local talents are coming through too after the government invested a lot of money and effort into popularizing the game.
Oman has made rapid strides in the game in the last four years. They were granted ODI status by the International Cricket Council and recently were given T-20 status as well.
Mendis with 50 years of experience in cricket having represented the country for 15 years and then functioned as coach, manager, chairman of selectors, head of cricket operations and finally CEO had a lot to offer for a budding cricket nation and they have not looked back since he joined them, six years ago.
Apart from developing cricket in Oman, Duleep has been responsible for overseeing the development of infrastructure as well in that country and it was a huge feather in his cap when the ICC decided to play some of the game’s of the upcoming T-20 World Cup in Oman.
Skipper Dasun Shanaka admitted that he has not seen the opposition in action. But Sri Lanka’s support staff by now would have got down all video analysis and shared it with the players feeding them information as to what to expect.
Sri Lanka will be without Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera, who are in UAE playing the IPL. The tourists are also unlikely to take a chance with Kusal Perera, who has just recovered from a hamstring injury.
That provides some of the reserves in the side an opportunity to prove a point before they head to UAE lead up to the World Cup.
Apart from the two games in Oman, Sri Lanka will play Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea as warm-up games in Abu Dhabi before their World Cup campaign begins.
Sri Lanka need to qualify and are grouped alongside Ireland, Netherlands and Namibia. They need to win two of those three games to progress.
The two games in Oman can be watched on Sony Ten and Supreme TV.