Oman's Jatinder Singh counts on warm-up game 'psychological edge' against Zimbabwe

When Zimbabwe and Oman take the field in Colombo this Monday to open their T20 World Cup 2026 campaigns, they will do so carrying two very different interpretations of a single afternoon's work.

A few days ago, Oman walked away from a warm-up fixture with a narrow victory over Zimbabwe - a Full Member nation. Unsurprisingly, in the Oman camp, that result is being treated as a vital mental edge.

"Whether you like it or not, there is a psychological advantage," said Oman captain Jatinder Singh. "We have beaten them in the warm-ups and hopefully, we're going to do the same in the upcoming game."

For an Associate nation that has only beaten a Full Member once in 16 attempts - a 2019 victory over Ireland - the win serves as a proof of concept. Since 2015, Oman have played 110 T20Is, but only a fraction have come against the world's elite. For Jatinder, the gap is one of opportunity, not necessarily ability.

"Full Member teams definitely they have better game plans. They play a good brand of cricket. But Associate nations are no less than the Full Members," he insisted. "The only thing is we hardly get a chance to play them. If we play them more, our level will go up."

His counterpart, Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza, is far less concerned with the "psychological" weight of a practice match. For him, the warm-ups were a clinical exercise in shaking off the rust. Despite being one of the busiest T20 sides since 2024, Zimbabwe arrived in Sri Lanka having not played a competitive T20I since November.

"Warm-ups are there just for an indication," Raza noted. "We haven't played T20 cricket for two and a half months... ideally we wanted to win both games as well, but most importantly there was a bigger picture and we got what we wanted out of those warm-ups."

The "bigger picture" for Zimbabwe was simply acclimatisation; they play all their matches in Sri Lanka, and the sooner you get used to the conditions the better.

"It was to read the wickets, what sort of wickets we will have at the Premadasa. I know we don't have a game at CCC [Colombo Cricket Club, where the warm-up was played] but similar-ish. So it was more to read the surfaces, what sort of shots, what sort of options are on. Also some game time, the boys ended up having 40, 50, 60 balls under their belt in a match situation in those two games."

For Oman, as Jatinder puts it, the plan is simple: "Positive, good, fearless cricket." On Monday, we will see which school of thought prevails.