Oman beat Hong Kong to qualify for T20 World Cup 2020

Defending 134, Oman's bowlers Bilal Khan and Fayyaz Butt claimed five wickets between them in the first four overs, leaving Hong Kong at 18/5.

Dubai: Oman defeated Hong Kong in the T20 World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday by 12 runs to book place in the prestigious tournament. Oman became the sixth nation to qualify for the tournament.

Papua New Guinea, Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia and Scotland are the other five teams who have qualified for the 2020 World Cup, International Cricket Council (ICC) reported.

Oman got off to a bad start in the match against Hong Kong and they collapsed to 22/3 in the fifth over, and they were further 42/6 by the end of the ninth over.

Opener Jatinder Singh played an unbeaten knock of 67 runs off just 50 balls and he combined with Aamir Kaleem to put up a 42-run stand and latter he found support in Mohammad Naseem to stitch together a partnership of 50 runs.

The latter of the partnerships came from 19 balls, and it helped Oman to put up a score of 134/7 in the allotted twenty overs.

Defending 134, Oman's bowlers Bilal Khan and Fayyaz Butt claimed five wickets between them in the first four overs, leaving Hong Kong at 18/5.

Hong Kong's wicket-keeper batsman Scott McKechnie then put up 52 runs with Haroon Arshad, but Oman picked up two wickets in quick succession, leaving Hong Kong to get 53 runs in the last 6.3 overs with only three wickets in hand.

McKechnie's dismissal proved to be the final nail in the coffin and in the end, Oman booked its place in the tournament as they restricted Hong Kong to 122/9.