Oman Beat Canada by 41 Runs — Hasnain Ul Wahab's 93 Sets It Up, Hassnain Shah's Four Finishes It

A one-day match often has a hinge, a moment where it swings on its axis and never swings back. At Al Amerat on Friday it came in the 39th over of the second innings. Canada were 171 for 4, needing 93 from 70 balls, with Aaditya Varadarajan and Harsh Thaker set and a 95-run partnership behind them. Five balls later both were gone, and Oman did not let the door open again.

Oman 263 all out (49.1 overs). Canada 222 all out (48 overs). Oman won by 41 runs. Hasnain Ul Wahab, whose 93 from 77 balls gave Oman their total, was Player of the Match.

Oman's openers set off at a gallop: Jatinder Singh and Hasnain Ul Wahab put on 50 in 42 balls, Jatinder hitting five fours in his 34 before Sukhjinder Singh had him lbw at 53 for 1 in the ninth over. Hasnain and Mujibur Ali then built the innings' backbone, 113 for the second wicket from 109 balls. Hasnain reached his fifty from 54 balls and was on 46 at the 20-over drinks break, with Oman 107 for 1.

He was run out by Ajayveer Hundal for 93 at 166 for 2 in the 27th over, and that was the moment Oman's innings lost its shape. Sheel Patel bowled Mujibur Ali and Hammad Mirza, and Harsh Thaker, Canada's best bowler on the day, took four wickets as Oman lost eight for 97. Zikria Islam's 24 from 18 balls, with two sixes, helped push the total past 250. Sheel Patel's ten overs for 36 were a reminder of how much tighter the second half of the innings was than the first.

Then came Oman's bowling, and it was the steadier half of their day. Shakeel Ahmed bowled ten overs for 25 with two maidens and took 3 wickets; Jay Odedra's ten went for 24 without a wicket. Hassnain Shah bowled Thaker at the critical moment and finished with four wickets, all four of them bowled. Vinayak Shukla, keeping wicket, completed two stumpings.

Canada's chase was slow from the beginning — 34 for 1 after ten overs, 73 for 2 at the first drinks break — and at 76 for 3 in the 19th over, with Aaron Johnson gone for 29 from 58, they had a lot to do. Aaditya Varadarajan and Harsh Thaker then gave them a real chance. They added 95 from 116 balls, Varadarajan hitting two sixes on his way to 64 from 81, and at 171 for 4 in the 39th over the game was alive.

Then Shakeel Ahmed had Varadarajan caught by Mujibur Ali, and in the next over Hassnain Shah bowled Thaker. Two runs separated the two wickets. Hamza Tariq struck 28 from 22 balls, but Shreyas Movva was stumped off Shakeel and the last four wickets fell for 32 runs. Canada were all out with two overs unused.

Thaker deserves a line of his own: 4 for 37 and 40 runs is a fine day's work in a losing side. Canada will also reflect that Oman's batters were allowed to score 58 runs in the first powerplay before they were reined in.

We weren't at the ground. The scorecard says the two innings ran in opposite directions. Oman were 166 for 1 in the 27th over and made only 97 more from 22.3 overs while losing nine wickets. Canada were the reverse: 34 for 1 after ten overs and 76 for 3 in the 19th, before Varadarajan and Thaker found the going easier. Shakeel and Odedra bowled 20 overs between them for 49, the tightest work of the day. Eight of the 20 wickets were bowled, four in each innings, which points to bowlers who attacked the stumps.

Five fours and five sixes: there is a particular kind of batter who hits as many sixes as fours, and on Friday Hasnain Ul Wahab was that batter. His 93 came from 77 balls at a time when Oman were scoring quickly at both ends, and he was the one who turned a good start into a platform. He had the hundred within reach when Hundal's run-out cut it short.

The measure of his innings is what happened after it: Oman added 97 for the last eight wickets. Without his 93, 263 would have been something much smaller, and 41 runs would have been no margin at all.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview, so there is no prediction to grade.

After this round, Oman are fourth in the League 2 table with 33 points from 29 matches (15 wins, net run rate 0.053), behind United States (47 from 34), Scotland (45 from 36) and Netherlands (38 from 32). Canada are sixth with 25 points from 33 matches (10 wins, net run rate -0.411), one point ahead of Nepal and six behind Namibia.

Oman have played fewer games than anyone else in the table, so their position is one to watch.