Ireland will take on Oman in the fourth match of the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup 2016 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Ground in Dharamshala, India, on Wednesday.
India is hosting the sixth edition of World T20, which begins on March 8. Zimbabwe will take on Hong Kong and Afghanistan will take on Scotland in the inugural games of the championship on Tuesday.
Eight top ranking teams - India, Australia, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand and West Indies - have already booked their places in the Super10, while eight other teams - Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Oman, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Scotland, Netherlands and Ireland - will play each other in a qualifying round from March 8 to 13. Two teams out of the latter eight will take a spot in the Super10.
Watch the live stream and videos here, here and here and get live scores here and here. The twenty-over match starts at 7:30 p.m. local time (2 p.m. GMT/9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT) on March 9.
Ireland is looking to dominate Oman in its ICC World T20 opener. It will face Bangladesh on Friday and the Netherlands on Sunday. Former Sri Lankar bowler Chaminda Vaas has recently became part of Ireland's coaching staff.
"Ireland have a well-balanced bowling attack heading into the World T20 in India. They are happy bowling with the new ball and have played a lot of T20 games," Vaas said.
Oman, which is taking part in ICC World Cup for the first time, is led by Wicketkeeper batsman Sultan Ahmed. Apart from Ireland, it will also face Bangladesh and Netherlands in qualifying rounds.
"I can say it's a dream for us to play a World Cup in any format, T20 or 50-over, but it's a big achievement to play against those countries which we normally watch on the TV. The next step is to compete there and show the world we are capable, we can play good cricket and to show our talent," all-rounder Zeeshan Ahmad Siddhiqui remarked on his team's first ever appearance at a global cricket competition.
Ireland: William Porterfield, Andy Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien, Andrew Poynter, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, Max Sorensen, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson and Craig Young.
Oman: Sultan Ahmed, Aamir Kaleem, Amir Ali, Munis Ansari, Jatinder Singh, Khawar Ali, Ajay Lalcheta, Mehran Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Rajeshkumar Ranpura, Sufyan Mehmood, Vaibhav Wategaonkar, Yousuf Mahmood, Arun Poulose, Zeeshan Ahmad and Zeeshan Maqsood.
