'Best chance to crush them' - Oman sense opportunity against vulnerable Australia

Reeling from a first-round exit, Australia's torrid 2026 T20 World Cup campaign ends with a fixture against Oman, but Jatinder Singh's team isn't letting them go without one last challenge.

Ahead of the game in Pallekele, Jatinder admitted it was a great opportunity for Oman, describing it as "the best time to crush them".

It might come across as a tall claim from a side ranked 20th in the ICC T20I rankings, but Australia's recent form has left them vulnerable in the competition. The biggest setback was their 23-run loss to Zimbabwe: they've now lost two out of two against them in T20 World Cups.

Beaten by Sri Lanka as well, Australia sit fourth on the Group B points table, set to face a winless Oman in the last fixture before the Super 8s begin.

When asked if there was no better time to play Australia, Jatinder insisted his team was extremely positive going into the game. "100% it is an opportunity," Jatinder said ahead of the game.

"And our boys are looking forward to it. Because T20: it's a game of momentum and moments. If you play those moments right, you can do anything on that particular day. So, Australia is not doing well at the moment... It's the best time to crush them."

Jatinder's own scores have been one of Oman's biggest concerns: he has managed 5, 1 and 7 so far in three comprehensive defeats: losing by eight wickets to Zimbabwe, 105 runs to Sri Lanka and 96 runs to Ireland.

The gulf in competition against stronger sides has been evident, and Jatinder believes it can be corrected to an extent by exposing Oman players to franchise cricket.

"If I have to sum it up, it would be if we have the franchise cricket happening in the country, or our guys get a chance to play the franchise cricket elsewhere," Jatinder said, when asked how the team can turn promise into consistent results.

"I think we can fill that gap, and they can bring vast amount of experience for our national team. But again, we don't get to play competitive cricket, whereas other teams are getting to play competitive cricket. So, I think we just need to fill that gap because there have been instances that we've been inviting the teams to come and play in Oman. The response has been really delayed. We don't get the response.

"So, I think if we have franchise cricket would really fill the gap".

Beyond that, Jatinder suggested that more game time against Full Member teams - even practice games - would benefit them, pointing out the issues that deplete their domestic system.

"The sad part is we get to play a lot of domestic T20s where the level is not up to the mark," he said. "And the pitches on what we play are really not up to the mark.

"Because if you look at the stats, if you score about 130-140 runs on those wickets, those are, I mean, a cakewalk for you to win the game. So that competitiveness is not there in the domestic teams because we have a very limited pool of players."

For Australia, the game is an opportunity to finish on a better note. Coach Andrew McDonald called it a "devastated group", but made it clear there was no lack of motivation going into the Oman game.

"This group's got an opportunity together to finish off the journey that they started a long time ago and we had nine-ten games running in and there was some incredible performances within that," McDonald said.

"So, there was motivation to finish the job, albeit short of where we wanted to be. So, we've got one more World Cup game and we'll be zeroed in on that".