Colombo: Zimbabwe have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Oman in their Group B clash of the 2026 T20 World Cup at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground (SSC) in Colombo on Monday.
After winning the toss, Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza said, “We’re going to have a bowl first. We looked at the wicket as well, and it looked like there’s early movement as well, and with the wind going on as well, I think the wicket is going to look to get better from what I can see. Give our seamers the best chance to make the ball talk.”
“Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka share a very good relationship, so they were very kind enough to allow us to come a week before, and we were in Hambantota for a week. And then we have been here for five odd days as well. So certainly those 10-12 days have certainly helped us to prepare. And adjust to the conditions, and we couldn’t wait to get the show on the road,” he added.
While, after losing the toss, Oman captain Jatinder Singh said, “Absolutely. It’s a good surface, and it definitely settled down a bit in the second innings. The preparation has been excellent. We arrived in Sri Lanka quite early and had a really strong build-up.”
“We played a couple of games, and since the conditions here are very different, it was important for us to get used to them. It’s also much more humid compared to Oman, so overall, the preparation has been spot on. Based on the wicket, I think around 160 to 165 would be ideal. Anything in that range should be competitive,” he added.
Playing XIs
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Dion Myers, Brendan Taylor (wk), Sikandar Raza (c), Ryan Burl, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani
Oman: Jatinder Singh (c), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Wasim Ali, Karan Sonavale, Jiten Ramanandi, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Sufyan Mehmood, Nadeem Khan, Shah Faisal, Shakeel Ahmed.
(IANS)
