T20 World Cup Match Prediction: Oman versus Papua New Guinea. 1st Match. Who Will Win?

The Indian Premier League might have come to an end, but that does not mean that the cricket betting action stops there. Nope, because next up is the T20 Cricket World Cup, and there is plenty more great cricket coming our way.

The two teams that are going to kick off this tournament are Oman and Papua New Guinea as both sides attempt to make to through to the Super 12 stage. This first stage of the T20 World Cup is taking place in Oman, so they have a small advantage over the other teams.

Who will go on to win this opening match? Read our T20 World Cup prediction to find out.

Oman Team Preview

Oman are the home team and they have been getting ready for this prestigious competition by playing some warm-up matches against Sri Lanka. While Oman lost these games, they did show the type of challenge that they can pose to other teams. With the likes of Scotland and Bangladesh in their group, it will be hard for them to qualify for the Super 12s stage, but it is definitely not impossible.

Zeeshan Maqsood will lead their bowling attack with help from Kaleemullah and Fayaz Butt. They do not have the strongest of bowling units, but they did manage to push the Sri Lankans in both the games that they played, so we are sure that they have enough to take down the Papua New Guinea batting unit.

The batsmen to keep a close eye on are Aqib Illyas, Jatinder Singh, and Khurram Nawaz. There is not a lot of quality in the batting lineup, but almost all of them seem to be able to swing the bat and chip in with valuable runs when needed.

Papua New Guinea Team Preview

Papua New Guinea might have qualified for the first stage of this 2021 World Cup, but winning a single match is going to be something that proves very difficult for them. They have played a couple of warm-up matches in the lead up to the tournament against Scotland and Namibia, and they ended up losing both of them quite easily. Also, they have not played any other cricket in 2021 and played no cricket at all during 2020, and this will likely count against them because they are bound to be rusty still.

Papua New Guinea just cannot call on the same type of quality or experience that other teams in this first stage of the tournament can. Assad Vala and Kiplin Dorigia are two batsmen that we are interested in watching, while Damien Ravu and Jason Kila are two of their best bowlers and are the two who could cause some issues for Oman.

Toss Prediction

The team that wins the coin toss will likely choose to bowl first. It can be difficult to defend a total on a small ground, so chasing will be seen as having a definite advantage.

Pitch Conditions

The conditions should be good for cricket, both pitch-wise and weather-wise. When Oman played Sri Lanka on this pitch a couple of days ago, we saw a nice amount of carry and pace in the surface. We do not expect that to change, so are expecting more of the same in this game. If Oman bat first, then a total of 170 is not too difficult to see. If Oman notch 170 batting first, it is hard to see Papua New Guinea getting anywhere close to the total to be honest.

Our Match Prediction

We are going to put our money on Oman to win this opening game of the T20 World Cup. They have become one of the better associate teams and have a decent number of players that they can call upon. Additionally, they are playing home and so should be a lot better prepared for the pitch conditions than Papua New Guinea.

Our match prediction: