With their Super Eight hopes hanging by a thread after two successive defeats, Ireland will look to captain Paul Stirling for inspiration when they face Oman in a Group B T20 World Cup clash on Saturday.

Both teams are yet to register a win in the tournament and find themselves at the bottom of the table. Ireland suffered a 20-run defeat to co-hosts Sri Lanka before going down by 67 runs to Australia. Oman, meanwhile, were beaten convincingly by Zimbabwe (eight wickets) and Sri Lanka (105 runs).

Given their experience in global tournaments, Ireland will start as favourites. However, they know that a mere win may not suffice — a big victory is essential to keep their slim qualification hopes alive. Oman, with little to lose after two heavy defeats, will be eager to salvage pride and cause an upset.

Ireland’s struggles have largely stemmed from inconsistent batting. Stirling is yet to make a significant impact, and much will depend on the skipper delivering at the top. Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker and Curtis Campher have shown promise but need to convert starts into substantial scores.

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Left-arm spinner George Dockrell has been Ireland’s standout bowler so far, leading the attack in both economy and wickets. Support from pacers Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy, along with spinners Matthew Humphreys and Gareth Delany, will be crucial.

Oman, playing their fourth T20 World Cup, have also found runs hard to come by, managing just 103 and 120/9 against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka respectively. They struggled against pace and bounce in Colombo and will require a far stronger batting display.

Captain Jatinder Singh, Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza and power-hitter Vinayak Shukla must shoulder responsibility at the top. Mohammad Nadeem, who missed the opener but scored a fighting half-century against Sri Lanka, remains a key figure in the middle order.

Historically, Ireland hold the upper hand, winning four of their last five meetings against Oman. However, Oman will draw confidence from their memorable victory over Ireland during their debut World Cup appearance in 2016.

For Oman, a much-improved batting performance is essential to give their bowling unit — arguably their stronger suit — something to defend.

Match starts at 11am.