Former Sri Lanka cricket captain Duleep Mendis is now the Head Coach of the Oman cricket team

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Duleep Mendis is a name synonymous with Sri Lanka cricket. There is no role he has not fulfilled pertaining to his country’s cricket. From being a fad as a schoolboy cricketer to club cricket and then his country, Mendis is indeed a household name wherever cricket in Sri Lanka is spoken.

Today, in fact the last 10 years or so, Mendis has been sharing and offering his expertise as a player, coach, manager and administrator to Oman cricket, which thanks to him is flourishing to the point that they are virtually on par with a country like Sri Lanka for the upcoming T20 World Cup where they too have to qualify for a place in the Super12s. The two teams are not meeting each other in the qualifiers leading to the tournament proper as they are in separate groups, but will meet in two warm-up games on 7 and 9 October.

“This is something which I proposed and I must thank Sri Lanka Cricket for agreeing to come and play in Oman. We are on the learning curve, we want to play with good, strong sides and do well,” said Mendis speaking to Daily FT from Oman.

“If you do well against strong sides that is where you get the confidence. The boys are very keen to learn, very eager to do well in these matches and we have nothing to lose but everything to gain. If we do well against Sri Lanka it is good for us for the main tournament. Even for Sri Lanka it is a good place to get accustomed and acclimatise because the adjoining country is UAE which has the same type of climate and wickets. We met the Emerging Sri Lanka team in Bangladesh in 2019 and we beat that side. The boys are looking forward to playing with Sri Lanka because we all know that Sri Lanka is a good side and they are very keen to do well against them.”

Sri Lanka will be playing their matches under lights on Oman Cricket Academy Ground 1, one of two grounds that make up the Oman Cricket Academy at Al Amerat. It has been accredited with Test, ODI and T20I status.

Brown desert transformed

“This place was earlier like a brown desert but today it is one of the most beautiful places to play cricket with mountains surrounding the two grounds in the middle and with the academy building where we have our offices, practice nets with seven strips – two for spin, three normal and two for pace, fully air-conditioned indoor nets, gym, restaurant and board room. We have upgraded the lights from 1200 lux to 2600 lux, new stands and electronic scoreboard,” said Mendis.

“When I came to Oman they did not have any cricket grounds, the first green ground came after my arrival and then the second one. We started building one by one, now we have two grounds in the same place.”

Mendis is confident that Oman can qualify for the second round of the T20 World Cup because they are playing under home conditions and the players are quite familiar with the wickets, but added: “In a T20 game anything can happen, even the best of sides can lose to a weak side. If you lose the grip you don’t have time to come back.” 

Oman are pitted against Bangladesh, Scotland and Papua New Guinea.

“Our strength has always been our batting because we have a solid line up, but it has been our bowlers who are doing it. We have a fairly balanced side with three to four pace bowlers, which I would say rate as the best pace attack amongst the Associates. We have a good leg-spinner, two left-arm spinners and an off-spinner. We are covered all round. We have about four to five all-rounders in the side so that helps us a lot because it is easy for us to balance the side,” said Mendis.

In the present side dominated by Indian and Pakistani expatriates there is only one Omani cricketer, but Mendis said the target is to get the majority of Omanis playing in the national side in a few years as there is a fair amount of Omanis playing in the seven teams of their domestic tournament.

Getting ODI status, the best

Apart from helping Oman build their cricket infrastructure, Mendis has also been responsible for the rise of Oman’s national cricket team.   

“The best one is getting the ODI status. My immediate goals are three. The first is to qualify for the next round of the T20 World Cup. Two, if you qualify you will participate in the next T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022. Then, to qualify and participate in the 50-over World Cup in India in 2023.”

Oman’s aim is to finish in the top three of the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two 2019-22 which would give them automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup in India. There are seven Associate teams vying for the top three places Oman, Scotland, USA, Nepal, Namibia, UAE and Papua New Guinea. Each team has to play a total of 36 matches in a tri-series over a period of three years. Currently Oman is heading the table with 24 points from 16 matches (12 wins, four losses) and they want to keep it that way till the end.

Mendis said he was grateful to the present Chairman of the Oman Cricket Board Pankaj Khimji and the General Secretary Madhursinh Jesrani affectionately called ‘Madhu bhai’. 

“These are two gentlemen behind Oman’s success. They are the pillars of Oman cricket. They have given all the encouragement to me and to the boys and have been a tower of strength. One thing I must say is that they never got involved with my cricket. I do the work of the chief development officer as well as the role of national coach. They’ve allowed me to do cricket, the way I want and that has been the hallmark. They knew that I have been in this business for a long time and allowed me to do everything and I have done it.”

Mendis is of the view that the T20 World Cup coming to Oman is certain to generate a lot of interest in cricket in a region where football is dominant.

“Football is the culture here but gradually they are beginning to understand what cricket is and getting interested. It is like pre-1996 in Sri Lanka, we were struggling without finances in the Cricket Board, but then after we won the World Cup everything started pouring in,” said Mendis, who played an integral role in that 1996 triumph being the manager of the team as well as the chief selector.

“If cricket is flourishing in Oman everyone is curious to know what this game is all about. This T20 World Cup coming to Oman attracts a lot of interest amongst the Omanis. A World Cup is a big thing for anyone, no matter what the sport. Everyone is waiting for it. That is how you create interest.”

The Oman Cricket Academy Ground 1 in Al Amerat, venue of Sri Lanka’s two warm-up matches and the T20 World Cup

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