The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup kick-started on Sunday with the match between Papua New Guinea and Oman. Prior to the game, which Oman won by 10 wickets, several Papua New Guinea cricketers and support staff members got emotional and broke down when their country’s national anthem was being played as the game marked the team’s maiden appearance at a major ICC senior level global tournament.

Oman won the toss and opted to bowl against PNG in the tournament opener.  PNG lost both their openers quickly for no score before captain Assad Vala made 56 runs off 43 balls. Charles Amini smashed 37 off 26 balls as the two added 81 runs for the third wicket. The team suffered a batting collapse from there on, losing six wickets for just 37 runs following Valla’s dismissal.

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In reply, Oman openers Aqib Ilyas (50 from 43) and Jatinder Singh (73 from 42) helped the team chase down the target in just 13.4 overs.

Meanwhile, Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 4/20 from four overs

“They were batting very well when I got the wickets. And because we got the wickets, they couldn’t put on a big total,” Maqsood said after the win.

“I just try to keep it tight and not give away loose balls. We knew the wicket was playing very well, we needed to make sure we didn’t give away loose balls and easy boundaries,” he added. 

PNG Captain Vala, on the other hand, said the batting collapse was disappointing. 

“It wasn’t a good start with the bat, losing two wickets with no runs. But we fought back very well to get in a position to put on a good total. That collapse in the end was very disappointing,” Vala said after the match.