Abu Dhabi: Captain Suryakumar Yadav made full use of available resources in both departments as India defeated Oman by 21 runs here on Friday, concluding the group league stage of the Asia Cup with a hat-trick of wins. The Indian team will now face Pakistan in the Super 4 match in Dubai in less than 48 hours. Before this match, the Indian captain made a smart decision by pushing himself down to number 11 in the batting order, giving the rest of his 10 teammates a chance in the middle order.
Winning the toss and opting to bat, the Indian team set a challenging target of 189 runs against Oman. The Oman team was playing against the T20 World Champion India for the first time. Without Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy, the Indian bowling attack did not look particularly special, allowing Oman to score 167 runs for the loss of four wickets in their 20 overs in reply.
In bowling, Suryakumar also had the opportunity to use eight bowling options. Two players included in the final eleven, Harshit Rana (1 wicket for 25 runs in 3 overs) and Arshdeep Singh (1 wicket for 37 runs), have had limited playing opportunities. Both had played only one Ranji Trophy match for the North Zone in this season.
Samson Shines, Kuldeep Maintains Control
Kuldeep Yadav (1 wicket for 23 runs in 3 overs) was, as usual, better than the others. Arshdeep is unlikely to play against Pakistan. He got the chance to complete 100 wickets, becoming the first Indian to achieve this feat. For Oman, captain Jatinder Singh (32 runs off 33 balls), fellow opener Aamir Kaleem (64 runs off 46 balls), and Hamad Mirza (51 runs off 34 balls) posed a challenge, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win.
But Suryakumar got a clear idea of what to expect from his players towards the end of the tournament. Samson benefited the most, scoring some runs. However, there is no guarantee regarding his position in the batting order. Samson (56 runs) made full use of his time at the crease, helping India post a score of 188 for 8 after winning the toss and choosing to bat.
After vice-captain Shubman Gill was out cheaply, Samson (56 runs off 45 balls) got the chance to bat in the top three. The pitch was a bit slow, but an innings featuring three fours and three sixes would have certainly boosted Samson’s confidence. Samson hit the first six off left-arm fast bowler Shah Faisal’s delivery towards long-on, but a lack of ‘match time’ was evident as he struggled to score runs.
Abhishek-Tilak Impress in Practice, Middle Order Gets Time
Tilak Varma (29 runs off 18 balls), who came in at number seven, also contributed to boosting the score. It was clear that before the match against Pakistan on Sunday, India would prefer to bat first in this formal match and would want to play the full 20 overs before the start of the Super 4 stage, so that its middle order gets sufficient time at the crease.
By changing the batting order, Samson was given his preferred position, and Axar Patel (26 runs off 13 balls) was sent ahead of the specialist left-handed batsman Tilak or the batting all-rounder Shivam Dubey (05). This pushed captain Suryakumar himself down to number 11. He also gave Hardik Pandya a chance, but unfortunately, Samson’s straight drive deflected off the bowler’s hands and hit the non-striker’s end stumps, resulting in a run out.
Axar did his job well and maintained the momentum set by opener Abhishek Sharma. Abhishek again played a quick innings of 38 runs off 15 balls, his third consecutive score of 30 or more runs. In the end, Harshit Rana also played an unbeaten innings of 13 runs and hit a six off the last ball. Shubman Gill’s failure to
