Former Mumbai wicketkeeper-batter and domestic coach Sulakshan Kulkarni has taken over as the Oman head coach. Kulkarni takes over from Duleep Mendis, who held the position for 14 years and the ongoing T20 World Cup was his last assignment.
Mendis now transitions to Chief Development Officer at Oman Cricket. Oman made four T20 World Cup appearances, all under Mendis. They were in Group B in the current World Cup along with Zimbabwe, Australia, Sri Lanka and Ireland, but failed to win a single game. Kulkarni had been Mendis' deputy since July last year.
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Sulakshan Kulkarni as Head Coach of the Oman Men's National Team.
— Oman Cricket (@TheOmanCricket) February 28, 2026
Bringing vast experience and a winning mindset, he is set to lead the #TeamOman into an exciting new era.
Duleep Mendis transitions to Chief Development… pic.twitter.com/wonXT6xNZR
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Kulkarni, 59, brings with him loads of coaching experience from the Indian domestic circuit. He has coached Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha and Mumbai. Kulkarni played 65 first-class matches and 13 List A games from 1985-86 to 2001-02. He scored 3332 first-class runs with six hundreds and 13 half-centuries at an average of 38.29. In one-dayers, he managed just 130 runs in 10 innings at 21.66. Apart from Mumbai, he also represented Railways, Assam and Vidarbha in domestic cricket.
Oman's next assignment was to be the ICC CWC League 2 matches in Nepal next week, along with UAE and Nepal, but those games have been postponed because of the air strikes in West Asia which has led to cancellation of thousands of flights.