'Didn't tick all three boxes' during loss against Australia: Oman's Ayaan Khan

Barbados [West Indies], June 6 (ANI): Oman all-rounder Ayaan Khan said his side failed to perform in the batting, fielding, and bowling sector as they conceded a 39-run defeat against Australia on Thursday morning in their T20 World Cup 2024 clash at the Kensington Oval.

Ayaan played a 36-run knock from 30 balls at a strike rate of 120. He slammed 2 fours and 2 sixes during his time on the crease. However, his knock came to an end in the 16th over when Adam Zampa dismissed him. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Ayaan said that they were trying to play an aggressive brand of cricket against Australia.

"We always talk about positives and that is what we are trying to do to play some aggressive cricket. Unfortunately, we didn't tick all the three boxes in cricket, especially in T20 game. If you tick all the three boxes you will be on the winning side or that is what the reason is for today's match. Like if we are going to tick the box in the power play in the middle overs in the last overs if we tick boxes one by one - so the result should be different, but as Australia played really very well, they bowl on the targets, they didn't panic on the field with the bat," Ayaan said.

Talking about the takeaways from the match, he added they learned to be calm in a difficult situation.

"The best thing I learned is just be calm, don't face, don't play the bowler, play the ball - that is what I believe. If you are going to think that they are the champions, then you will be in a different scenario, you are not playing your natural game. So always believe in yourself and play some natural games, that is what Mehran and myself tried to do that. So that is also a learning for us that from the Australian teams. We learn the areas where they bowl, we learn from Stoinis' batting from David Warner's batting. We learn from that and we'll try to execute it having a partnership - take the game as long as possible," he added.

Recapping the match, Australia was put to bat first by Oman, who won the toss. Aussies were restricted to 50/3 at one point. Half-centuries from Marcus Stoinis (67 in 36 balls, with two fours and six sixes) and David Warner (56 in 51 balls, with six fours and a six) helped Australia reach 164/5 in their 20 overs.

Mehran Khan (2/38) was the top bowler for Oman.

In the run-chase, Oman kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Though Ayaan Khan (36 in 30 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Mehran (27 in 16 balls, with a four and two sixes) put up a fight, Oman could score only 125/9 in their 20 overs and lost by 39 runs.

Stoinis (3/19) also delivered a fine performance with the ball, with Adam Zampa, Nathan Ellis and Mitchell Starc also taking two wickets.

Stoinis' all-round show earned him the 'Player of the Match' award. (ANI)