T20 World Cup 2026: Australia seeks to avoid slip up against Oman in forgettable campaign

Australia will look to end one of its most calamitous World Cup campaigns on a positive note when it meets minnow Oman in their inconsequential final outing of this year’s T20 showpiece here on Friday.

Australia, the limited overs titan with six ODI and one T20I World Cup titles, was eliminated in the group stage after Tuesday’s game between Zimbabwe and Ireland in Kandy was washed out, which paved the way for the much-improved African side’s entry into the Super Eights from Group B along with tournament co-host Sri Lanka.

An injury-ravaged Australia showed glimpses of its batting prowess in the first half of its innings in the loss against Sri Lanka, but it was its shock defeat to Zimbabwe that really blew its campaign apart, forcing the administrators back home to announce a “forensic review” of its performance once the players return to the country.

READ | Zimbabwe stuns Sri Lanka, enters Super 8s undefeated

The forgettable campaign was marked by injuries to key players, poor form, and baffling selection calls. The result was that the 2021 winner failed to progress beyond the group stage for the first time since 2009.

Australia, though, despite the absence of their star pace trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, entered the tournament as one of the favourite, but things went downhill quickly following the reverse against Zimbabwe.

Now, before heading home, it will want to notch a win and then start focussing on the arduous process of long-term rebuilding, particularly with many key players now on the wrong side of 30.

Australia will enter the game as overwhelming favourite despite its disappointing campaign, which saw it win only one of its three matches so far, a 67-run victory over Ireland.

In the last meeting between the two countries in the 2024 edition of the tournament in the Americas, Australia emerged winner by 39 runs, and quite a few players of the current squads were part of that match from both teams.

Australia has struggled to live up to the expectations in ICC tournaments since its title triumph in the 2023 ODI World Cup.

It was eliminated in the Super Eights stage of the last T20 World Cup after defeats to India and Afghanistan and reached the semifinals of the Champions Trophy last year, when Pakistan hosted the tourney with eventual champion India playing all its matches in the UAE.

This, however, has been its worst outing in recent years.

On the other hand, Oman too has struggled significantly throughout this tournament, losing all three of its group matches by big margins.

Men like Jatinder Singh and Sufyan Mehmood will be hoping to leave an impression as it takes to the field for one last time in the tournament.

Published on Feb 19, 2026