Oman will look to take England by surprise: Ayaan Khan

Oman are yet to get off the mark in the T20 World Cup 2024. They lost their first game against Namibia in the Super Over and then despite putting up a valiant fight against Australia, they went down by 39 runs. Then, they were handed a seven-wicket thrashing by Scotland, who put themselves in a good position to make it through to the Super Eights, and knocked Oman out.

Oman would, however, like to end the tournament with a statement win and who better to do that against than England, who are fighting to stay alive in the tournament. All-rounder Ayaan Khan believes his side can use England's unfamiliarity of the Oman side against them.

"We got some plans, we know the [England] players as well. I think they might not even know us properly but we are going to make them surprised or we'll try to do that and we try to in this upcoming match maybe try to play some more aggressive cricket," Ayaan said ahead of the England clash. 

"We try to [play] positive cricket not even take too many of mistakes. Unfortunately, we are not good in the fielding, but as a unit, we'll try to come back and prove everybody wrong in the upcoming match, last match, and we try to get the positive at the last game to at least try to make one win in this World Cup."

Ayaan believes Oman's lack of assessing the conditions has led to their downfall this World Cup, which is something his side will look to correct against England in Antigua.

"I think we are just not even assessing the condition properly. That is what the reason is. We played two games in Barbados; the wicket is not too much bouncy and it spins a lot and getting low. Here, it's a little bit bounced like double-base wicket, spongy bounces there," Ayaan noted. 

"So, I think from the last match, few of the guys played good innings, played some good balls. So, I hope so. They will tell the other guys to assess the condition and try to improve in the next game."

Ayaan also insists that Oman will approach the game not getting awed by the quality of players in the opposition.

"We are here to play the ball, not the bowler. And for the batsmen, we are just here to play cricket. We are not thinking about - if they are good, they're going to prove it in the ground. It's in T20, , it's all about a day. Whoever click it, change the scenario. So that is what we are doing here," Ayaan, who has slammed 15, 36 and 41* in his three innings in the World Cup so far, said.

"If we think about this, we will be not here standing in front of the mighty England and Australians. So, we are just playing our cricket. As I told you, we are facing the ball. Not the bowlers."

The 31-year-old has also lauded ICC's step of opening up the T20 World Cup to 20 teams. "It's a very good initiative by ICC that they give a chance to the other associate nations. As you can see in this World Cup, everybody is talking about that they are rubbing their shoulders with the Test Nations and the champions," the Bhopal-born all-rounder noted. 

"So, it's a good initiative for them and for us also, it's a learning for us from the starting of this tournament that we're going to come back next year as a different Oman team for sure and give surprises to ICC and the world as well."

This is the first time the two sides will clash in international cricket. While Oman are out, England have to beat both Oman and Namibia by big margins to remain in contention for a chance to qualify for the Super Eights.

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