The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 continues its intense Group B motion at this time, February 14, 2026, as Eire tackle Oman within the twenty second match of the event. Set towards the historic backdrop of the Sinhalese Sports activities Membership (SSC) in Colombo, this encounter has successfully turn into a survival battle. Each side have struggled to search out their footing in Sri Lankan situations, getting into this fixture with out a single win after two matches every. For the Irish, nevertheless, the problem is compounded by a monumental absence on the prime of the order.
The pre-match buzz in Colombo was dominated by one main headline: the absence of Eire’s talismanic chief, Paul Stirling. Because the groups walked out for the toss, it was confirmed that the veteran opener wouldn’t solely miss at this time’s sport however has been dominated out for the rest of the World Cup.
Why Paul Stirling just isn’t enjoying at this time’s match?
The first motive Stirling just isn’t enjoying at this time is a big knee ligament damage sustained throughout Eire’s earlier outing towards Australia. The damage occurred when Stirling made an excellent diving effort to dismiss Josh Inglis; whereas he accomplished the catch, he landed awkwardly on the exhausting Colombo turf, inflicting speedy injury to his proper knee.
In a show of grit, Stirling tried to bat in the course of the 183-run chase, however the severity of the damage grew to become obvious virtually instantly. After going through only one supply, his knee buckled whereas making an attempt a fast single, forcing him to retire harm and go away the sector in seen misery. Subsequent medical scans confirmed ligament injury that requires speedy relaxation and rehabilitation.
Lorcan Tucker, who has stepped up because the stand-in captain, expressed the workforce’s sentiment on the toss, noting it as a “large disgrace” to lose such a “massive determine” within the squad.
“Yeah, I believe in these conditions, you actually need to assume positively. We see this as an excellent alternative to get our membership in and actually get some momentum within the final sport towards Zimbabwe. (Talks about Paul Stirling) Clearly an enormous disgrace and such an enormous determine in our workforce, however I believe it’s simply one thing that’s occurred. It’s unlucky,” Tucker said.
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Enjoying XI of each the groups
Oman: Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh (c), Hammad Mirza, Ashish Odedara, Mohammad Nadeem, Jiten Ramanandi, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Nadeem Khan, Sufyan Mehmood, Shah Faisal, Shakeel Ahmed
Eire: Ross Adair, Tim Tector, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk/c), Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Joshua Little
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