Oman gave Sri Lanka the jitters in their first T20 match in Al Amerat on Thursday as they chased down a 163 target and ended up with 143 for 8 having recovered from 23 for 4 at one stage.
It was an enterprising effort from the Oman batters towards the middle and end of the innings as they hit seven sixes in the match in their run chase, four of which came from the blade of Naseem Kushi after Sri Lanka reached 162 for 4 in the allotted 20 overs.
At the start of their innings Oman appeared not to know how to approach their target with the top four batters gifting their wickets by playing the ball for catches on either side of the wicket.
But middle order batters Mohammad Nadeem and Ayaan Khan combined effectively and kept the Sri Lankans at bay as Oman progressed with the result being somewhat uncertain until three balls before the end while Naseem Kushi hit two fours and four sixes in a late onslaught to remain unbeaten on 40 from just 22 balls that gave Sri Lanka the jitters.
Earlier Sri Lanka put into bat after losing the toss, had an extremely shaky start losing opener Dinesh Chandimal caught behind for a first-ball duck followed by Kamindu Mendis experiencing the same fate as paceman Fayyaz Butt took two wickets in two balls.
Losing the wickets of Pathum Nissanka (8) and Bhanuka Rajapakse (15) Sri Lanka slumped to 51 for 4 in the 11th over and were rescued by Avishka Fernando (83) and Dasun Shanaka (51) who both remained not out in a partnership of 111 runs in just 9.2 overs to reach a defendable total of 162 for 4.
Shanaka hammered two fours and five sixes for his 51 that came in 24 balls while Fernando needed 59 balls with three fours and five sixes for his 83.