On February 20, 2026, at the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy, Australia and Oman played their 40th game of Group B in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Kandy, Sri Lanka; however, Australia was eliminated from the tournament and, thus, no longer had a chance to capture the championship.
In this dead-rubber game, Australia won the toss and chose to bowl first against Oman. Australia bowled well and held Oman to only 104 runs all out within 16.2 overs, thanks mainly to Adam Zampa’s excellent bowling performance of four wickets for 21 runs. In addition to Zampa, Xavier Bartlett and Glenn Maxwell both added two wickets supporting Zampa’s solid performance.
As a result of being overwhelmed by Australia’s multiple ways of getting out with the bat and field, Oman had little success batting, with Wasim Ali scoring 32 of Oman’s runs being their only bright spot.
The Powerplay Phase (1-6 overs) To Start And Early Problems
A non-performing start for Oman – their opener Aamir Kaleem was out for a golden duck first ball bowled through his legs by Xavier Bartlett, after cutting in sharply to hit the leg stump. Karan Sonavale and the captain Jatinder Singh struggled to recover after a boundary by Sonavale; however, Nathan Ellis bowled Sonavale for 12 in just the 4th over, and then in the 5th over Karan Singh was run out by Bartlett for 17 leaving Oman at 39/3. Hammad Mirza managed to hit a 6 off Cameron Green; however at the end of the power play Oman had only scored 47 runs for the loss of 3 wickets as the Australian pacers capitalised on the new ball combined with the great condition of the pitch to take advantage of the movement available.
Middle Overs (Overs 7-12): Collapse Deepens
Reflects a continued collapse in the Omani innings as the wicketkeeper Hammad Mirza fell to Adam Zampa’s first ball in the eighth over of play and by then scored only 16 runs with 4 runs out — 59 for 4 — in his next over, Mohammad Nadeem fell to Zampa too, leg before wicket and for only 2 runs also.
While there was brief resistance from Wasim Ali and Vinayak Shukla, they were both dismissed within Zampa’s four over spell; Wasim Ali had scored 9 runs before being caught at deep midwicket by Marcus Stoinis, and Vinayak Shukla for 1 run before being dismissed leg before wicket by Glenn Maxwell.
Oman ended their twelve overs at 81 for 5; however the middle-stage of the innings with regular loss of wickets, and both the bowling spinners and pace bowlers keeping tight control, there was no flow of permissions to bat.
Death Overs (Overs 13-16.2): Total Rout
The lower order of Oman’s batting line-up barely offered any resistance against Australia. Wasim Ali was Oman’s top scorer with a solid effort of 32 runs (4 fours) before being dismissed by Maxwell. Two other players could not contribute much, namely Shakeel Ahmed and Jay Odedra, but Zampa was able to take the last two wickets with consecutive deliveries (Shakeel caught out at long-on and Shafiq Jan bowled out by a zippy googly). In total, Oman scored 104 runs after losing their last five wickets (including both of those by Zampa) for an abysmal total of just 18 runs—after 16.2 overs of play.
The Australian bowlers all had their moments of glory during this innings, with Zampa’s four wickets being the highpoint of his return from injury; therefore Oman’s batting effort demonstrated a complete absence of partnerships and an overall lack of aggression in the face of an impressive Australian bowling performance. Since they only need 105 runs to conclude their campaign on a positive note, Australia has every chance to earn that reward.