Sese Bau

Abhishek Singh ∙ 17 Oct 2021

World T20 2021 | OMA vs PNG: Oman captain Maqsood bamboozles Barramundis with a three-wicket over

When Papua New Guinea skipper Assad Vala hit fifty and became the first-ever PNG player to hit a fifty in a World Cup, he wouldn’t have thought in just a span of 10 balls and 11 runs, his team would be on the receiving end of damages as they lost four wickets, with three of them coming one over, bowled by his Omani counterpart Zeeshan Maqsood. Maqsood came on to bowl in the 16th over with PNG on 112-4 and looking to up the ante in an over by a spinner. However, he had some other ideas as he removed batter Sese Bau, all-rounder Norman Vanua and Kiplin Doriga to break the back of the Barramundis batting order. When Vala was dismissed at the team score of 102, he would have not thought that his team would be getting undone in a couple of overs after that. But there was more to follow after the Maqsood over as Bilal Khan removed Simon Attai on the last ball of the 17th over to give PNG its eighth dismissal. Zeeshan came back in the 18th over and removed Damien Ravu to get the team in black and yellow nine down for 118. It was a great collapse as the team from the pacific went from 102-3 to 118-9. Maqsood came to bowl the 20th over, looking for a five-wicket haul which would have been the first five-wicket haul for an Oman bowler in T20 World Cup. But it wasn't to be as PNG maned to get to 129-9 in their 20 overs. Nonetheless, with his figures of 4-20, Maqsood finished with the best figures for an Omani bowler in World Cup and T20 cricket.