Abu Dhabi: India face Oman in a dead-rubber Group A clash of the Asia Cup 2025, with both teams approaching the game with contrasting objectives.
For India, the focus will be on rotation and giving middle- and lower-order batters valuable time at the crease ahead of the Super Four stage. Four squad members are yet to feature in the tournament, and some key batters—such as Sanju Samson—are yet to face a ball despite playing both games so far. With conditions in Abu Dhabi less spin-friendly than Dubai, fast bowlers like Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana could be given a run, while Jasprit Bumrah may be rested.
For Oman, this is an invaluable learning opportunity. While they are already out of contention, facing India is perfect preparation ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup Asia & EAP Regional Qualifier, where three out of nine teams will advance to the 2026 T20 World Cup. Left-arm spinner Shakeel Ahmed, who has impressed with an economy rate of 4.71 so far, faces his biggest test yet against India’s in-form opener Abhishek Sharma.
Probable XIs
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav/Varun Chakravarthy
Oman: Jatinder Singh (c), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Wasim Ali, Aryan Bisht, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Jiten Ramamnandi, Shah Faisal, Shakeel Ahmed, Hassnain Shah, Samay Shrivastava
Key Stats & Facts
- This is the first-ever meeting between India and Oman in any format.
- Abhishek Sharma (SR 195.40) currently has the best strike rate of any batter with 500+ T20I runs.
- Arshdeep Singh (99 wickets) is just one shy of 100 T20I scalps, while Hardik Pandya (95) and Jasprit Bumrah (92) are also in the race to the century mark.