CWC Qualifier Day 2 Report: Hasaranga rattles UAE, Oman upset Ireland

Playing as expected, Lanka breezed past UAE in their first match of the CWC Qualifier. Hasaranga took 6 wickets for the South Asian side. In another game, Oman upset the Irish with a brilliant win

Sri Lankan leg break bowler Wanindu Hasarnag was in his element as the UAE batters failed to pick him at all in the first group B game of the Cricket World Qualifier 2023. Stunning the Emirates batters with his googly, the Sri Lankan picked 6 wickets for 24 runs to finish with his best-ever ODI figures of 6/24. It was thanks to Hasaranga that Sri Lanka bowled UAE out for 180 and won the game by a huge margin of 175 runs. 

Four Sri Lankan batters hit fifty

Earlier in the day, after being asked to bat first, Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama hit individual fifties to guide Sri Lanka to a mammoth 355/6 in their allotted 50 pavers. For UAE, Ali Naseer picked 2/44 in his 10. 

Oman cause upset, beat Ireland 

It was always going to be tough for Ireland to fight Asian sides in playing conditions that are more Asian than British or European. Although Oman’s victory is being called a major upset, we at Business Standard had suggested earlier that Ireland have not been in great One Day form and are hence vulnerable to losses. 

That suggestion came true in the very first game as the permanent member of ICC was beaten by an associate side. 

Dockrell, Tector take Ireland to 281

Oman, after winning the toss and deciding to field first, did not get quick wickets as they would have liked. However, in the ninth over, Bilal Khan got the breakthrough as Paul Stirling pulled it straight to deep backward square leg. Post this wicket, things changed and wickets fell at regular intervals. George Dockrell (91*) and Harry Tector (52) were the only two Irish batters to get past the 50-run mark as the men in green scored 281/7 in their 50 overs. 

Omani batters chase 282 easily 

282 was never going to be an easy chase, but Oman did it courtesy of brilliant innings from Kashyap Prajapati (72), Aaqib Ilyas (52) and skipper Zeeshan Maqsood (59). In the end, the finishing touches were provided by Mohammad Nadeem (46*) and Shoaib Khan (19*). The team from West Asia won the game with 11 balls to spare and boosted thier chances of entering super six.