“They are top players, we respect them”: Oman captain Aqib Ilyas on his ‘another game for us’ remark on Australia

Bridgetown [Barbados], June 6 (ANI): After suffering back-to-back two defeats in the ongoing T20 World Cup, Oman captain Aqib Ilyas said the media highlighted “only the negatives” after his pre-game comment of “it’s another game” on the Australian side was not received well by many.

Before the clash, Oman captain Ilyas insisted that Oman treat the match as any other and not be intimidated by Australia. Australia didn’t have an easy time against Oman as the Ilyas-led side gave tough competition to the Aussies, however, suffered a 39-run defeat at the Kensington Oval.

“Once you step into the field, there is no big name, there is no one bigger than you at the field. It’s another game for us and we don’t think that we are going to play someone extraordinary,” Ilyas said in a pre-match presentation.

However, Ilyas’ comment did not live well as his side faced their second defeat in the tournament.

“The media doesn’t show the positive things that we saw. They are top players and we respect them,” Ilyas said in a post-match presentation.

Ilyas said their bowling preparations were ruined by a single catch slip, and things didn’t go well after that.

“We tried to defend a low target in the first game played a Super Over after a long time and today played a team like Australia. On turning tracks, our bowlers can do well. Credit to our bowlers. One catch (off Marcus Stoinis) we messed up and you saw that over being taken for many runs and Stoinis,” he added.

Ilyas said his side will look to do better in their next match when they take on Scotland at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday. In the 9th over Ilyas took a superb catch of Glenn Maxwell, who went back to the pavilion on golden duck.

“Our bowlers did well. We had a grip on the game till the 14th over. Unfortunately. I wanted to take a catch. One of our ex captains Zeeshan dropped a catch and it was highighted a lot for one year. I wanted to take a catch (off Maxwell) like that against Australia. We messed up our plans. He was hitting straight down the ground easily. We then decided to change the plan and make him hit to the longer side boundary. We have to work on our batting. We have done in the past. If we can bat well in the powerplay it will be important for us and as a batter I have to do well there. Hopefully, we will turn up better next time,” he added.

Coming to the match, after being put to bat, Australia managed to put up a competitive total of 164/5 on a slightly sluggish surface. In reply, Australia’s experienced bowling unit produced a clinical spell with the ball to Aussies across the finish line with a 39-run victory.