Oman- When a fiery Bilal Khan spell made time stand still

Date

3/16/2016 8:34:38 AM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily)

Tamim Iqbal stared into the ominously dark skies of a bitterly-cold Dharamshala as he walked out to take guard.

The left-handed Bangladesh opener cautiously checked out Oman skipper Sultan Ahmed's field placements and shaped up to face the opening ball of the match.

A wide slip was in place. There were two men out in the deep covering the straight boundary. The rest of the pack was tucked in close to the 22 yards. The ground at the HPCA Stadium was largely wet a steady drizzle had just stopped.

Oman skipper Sultan Ahmed

An inconsequential Netherlands-Ireland game was done with. It was now up to an immensely under-pressure Oman to stand up to a Test nation in a winner-takes-all World Twenty20 contest.

Pressure. Surely Bilal Khan must have felt it like never before when he leaned over from the top of his bowling mark to run in and begin the battle on that fateful March 13 night.

Till less than half a year back he didn't feature in Oman's scheme of things. He wasn't part of the team's emphatic campaign in the World T20 qualifiers in Scotland-Ireland last year. But then coach Duleep Mendis found sense in roping in the pacer in the hope of having someone around who could hit the deck with the new ball.

And hit the deck he did all right on the night of March 13 sending quite a few shivers down the spine of the Bangladesh top-order irrespective of Oman's eventual limp defeat by 54 runs and exit from the World T20 carnival.

Tall and well-built the 27 year old left-arm pacer took centrestage that evening for the first half an hour's play. He didn't return with a pocketful of wickets. But there's a compelling little story behind his figures of 4-0-16-0.

The story of how he absolutely tormented Bangladesh openers Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar. With the short ball. With his accurate line and length. With the not-so-pronounced but tricky off-the-pitch lateral movement.

And with his ice-cold looks that quite clearly made Iqbal and Co break into a sweat for a good half an hour that must have felt like an eternity.

Khawar Ali (left) with Oman coach Duleep Mendis

'All that was going on in my mind at that time was to keep the Bangladesh batsmen in shackles. No way they should get away with a loose delivery. Not a single one. Keep them on a leash I kept telling myself' recalls Bilal the Omani resident of Pakistani origin. 'Restrict them choke them till they give in. That was the plan.'

That choking did happen actually as Bangladesh stuttered to 29 for no loss in six overs dazed by that Bilal onslaught.

Throughout his 24-ball essay Bilal was nearly faultless. He conceded just one run in the first over. That one run was a desperately stolen single by Iqbal with a push to mid-on. In his next over - the third one of the innings - Bilal gave away just four runs. That four was a hit to the fence by Sarkar thanks to an inexcusable misfield in extra-cover.

He sent down no wides or no-balls and conceded just three fours in all bowling a whopping 70 per cent of dot balls. Not a single delivery strayed down the on-side and only two of his 16 runs were scored down the leg-side.

Tragic hero:

Sadly for Oman Bilal will go down memory lane as tragic hero of sorts following that night's fiery performance. The more he appeared to be trying to pull Oman together the more his teammates seemed to be leaking runs and playing into the hands of a matured Iqbal who finally hit a match-winning 103 not out.

Such intense and engaging was the half-an-hour-long one-man Bilal show that his fellow mates bowling from the other end seemed to have dropped in from another planet.

Bilal who burst into prominence last November in Abu Dhabi UAE with four-wicket and three-wicket bursts against Hong Kong in his first brush in T20 Internationals doesn't quite believe it was just pressure that undid Oman against Bangladesh.

Rajesh Ranpura (left) and Jatinder Singh after arriving in Muscat

'Look at the end of the day we were up against a formidable side in international cricket an experienced side that has even been playing Test cricket for a long time' says Bilal who credited K K Mohandas his mentor and his employer at Passage to India Restaurant where the cricketer works as an office staffer. 'It was their big-match experience that determined who fared better that night.'

Skipper impressed:

Oman skipper and stumper Sultan Ahmed was highly impressed with Bilal's efforts saying 'That was just brilliant bowling from Bilal. You get to see that kind of top-class stuff only when your bowler bowls according to the plan. Sadly we weren't good enough that night. The match belonged to Tamim Iqbal. He just took it away from us even though we completely dominated the proceedings in the first six overs.'

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