Australia locked horns today against Oman in the final group stage match of the T20 World Cup 2026. Ideally, it should’ve been a game that lets Australia gear up for the Super 8 round. But in reality, this is their last game of the tournament, just like Oman, after losing to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. However, even for this dead rubber, the Aussies didn’t hand a comeback to the 36-year-old Steve Smith who was roped in as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood before the Sri Lanka encounter.
Smith last played for Australia exactly two years ago in February 2024 but hasn’t featured in the format since then. His superb exploits in the Big Bash League (BBL) forced the selectors to look up to him amidst a plethora of injury issues in the team. But after travelling all the way from Sydney to Colombo, Smith will go back home without making his comeback in the shortest format of the game.
Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first, even as their captain Mitchell Marsh confirmed that they made only change to their playing XI, bringing Matt Renshaw back for Cooper Connolly. “Itโs a fresh wicket and hopefully go well. Oh look, yeah, we certainly respect the noise, I guess you could say, from back home when things donโt quite go to plan for us as a team. We sort of know thatโs coming, we respect it.
“We reflect on ways to get better moving forward. But the last couple of days, obviously, a really disappointed group to not make through the Super 8s. But today is a World Cup match for Australia and we certainly want to finish with a win,” Marsh said at the toss.
Oman wanted to bat first
On the contrary, Oman captain Jatinder Singh was happy to be batting first on a fresh wicket and hoped to post decent runs on the boards to put up a fight. “Certainly would have batted first, because it looks like a wonderful track to bat on. Yep. No, no, itโs fine, itโs fine. We wanted to bat first. Well, I think this tournament has been a learning curve in our careers, everyone, because Iโve been preaching that, you know, we lack a bit of experience and exposure.
“I think boys will take a lot of things, a lot of positives from the tournament, and we will bounce back a lot stronger. Well, itโs an honor for us to play against Australia because rarely we get a chance to play with the full members, and boys are looking forward to it. Yeah, we have four changes in the side, so the guys who didnโt get a chance to play last game, theyโre all playing in this game,” Jatinder said.
Playing XIs
Oman (Playing XI): Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh(c), Karan Sonavale, Hammad Mirza, Wasim Ali, Mohammad Nadeem, Vinayak Shukla(w), Jiten Ramanandi, Jay Odedra, Shakeel Ahmed, Shafiq Jan
Australia (Playing XI): Mitchell Marsh(c), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim David, Josh Inglis(w), Matt Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa
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