Item in Island, 10 March 2016, where the title is “Mendis guides Oman to stunning victory over Ireland”
Oman created the first major upset in the World T-20 when they beat fancied Ireland by two wickets in a thrilling last over finish on Wednesday with lower-order batsman Aamer Ali’s 32 run blitz achieving the target with two balls to spare. Oman are coached by former Sri Lanka captain Duleep Mendis, who was unceremoniously dumped as Sri Lanka Cricket CEO a few years ago. Mendis has done a tremendous job with the Oman side as they qualified for the World T-20 and then went onto beat Ireland.
Oman were set a target of 155 and after a solid start where their openers added 69 runs in 51 deliveries, they slumped to 90 for five before Amir Ali took the game away from the Irish. After the game, Oman skipper Sultan Ahmed praised Mendis’ contributions towards his team. Mendis was also the one lifted around by the joyous team after securing the famous win.
“My coach told us to get a partnership. If we could get two boundaries an over, with the dew, if we could take the game to the end we could win,” Man of the Match Aamer said.