Asia Cup 2025, IND vs OMA, Highlights: India beat Oman by 21 runs in a thriller as Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza hit fighting fifties.
Brief Scores: India 188/8 (Sanju Samson 56, Abhishek Sharma 38, Shah Faisal 2/23) beat Oman 167/4 (Aamir Kaleem 64, Hammad Mirza 51, Kuldeep Yadav 1/23) by 21 runs.
In what was their 250th T20I game, Team India survived a close save as Oman gave them a great fight. Chasing 189 to win the game, Oman produced a spirited batting display by making 167 in their 20 overs, losing the contest by just 21 runs in Asia cup 2025.
India’s over-reliance on Bumrah and Chakaravarthy exposed?
Having already qualified for the Super Fours, India tweaked their batting order and changed their bowling attack in this game against Oman. In doing so, they rested two of their best bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy.
The pace attack led by experienced Arshdeep Singh failed to capture even a single wicket in the powerplays. In middle-overs, the bowlers, barring Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel to an extent, failed to keep things tight or looked like getting a wicket. India tried as many as 8 bowlers in the innings with very little success. This clearly shows they are missing the pace-spin duo, even against an inexperienced team like Oman.
Read More: Asia Cup 2025, IND vs PAK: Kuldeep, Axar spin brilliance sinks Pakistan; India go 3-1 up in Asia Cup T20Is
Almost all Indian batters got a good game time ahead of the Super Fours
Getting to set a target for the first time in the Asia Cup 2025, India lost their vice captain early on in the piece with Shah Faisal uprooting his stumps, courtesy of a great inswinger. Sanju Samson was promoted up the order and joined hands with Abhishek Sharma, who gave India a blistering start.
They reached 60 runs in the powerplays, and Abhishek made 38 of them. India lost the set left-hander and Hardik Pandya in the same over, slowing things just a little bit. Sanju Samson, though not at his fluent best, reached his half-century, and left-hand batters, Axar Patel & Tilak Verma, kept India going on a surface that aided slow bowlers. They eventually reached 188, a total that should prove highly challenging for the Oman team.
Oman gave a good account of themselves as their openers, Jatinder Singh and Aamir Kaleem, scored 44 runs in the powerplays. The pair eventually brought up their fifty-run stand in the seventh over before skipper Jatinder lost his wicket to Kuldeep Yadav after making a fine 32. This wicket slowed things a bit, but Oman’s innings picked up pace post the 10-over break. In the next six overs, they hammered 69 runs with Kaleem reaching his second T20I half-century.
This made things interesting as Oman needed 58 off the last four with 9 wickets still in the hut to do the unexpected. But the experience of India’s bowling kept them in good stead as they lost by just 21 runs.
Read More: Asia Cup 2025, UAE vs IND: Kuldeep, Dube run through UAE line-up; India overhaul target in 27 balls
Statistical highlights from IND vs OMA clash in Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025:
- Abhishek Sharma has scored 634 runs with a career SR of 198.12 in T20Is. That’s the highest SR for any batter in this format (min 500 runs).
- Sanju Samson has the second-most runs (543) for India in T20Is since the end of the T20 WC 2024. Abhishek Sharma has the most (634)
- This was Sanju Samson’s third T20I fifty. He has scored three centuries in this format before
- India’s total of 188-8 is their second-lowest 1st innings score against an Associate nation.
- This was Hammad Mirza and Aamir Kaleem’s second fifty in T20Is, respectively
- Arshdeep Singh becomes the first bowler to take 100 wickets for India in men’s T20Is. He became the third fastest bowler to do so in the format.
- Hardik Pandya has equalled Yuzvendra Chahal’s tally of 96 T20I wickets and has the joint second-highest wicket-taker for India in the format
What’s Next?
Though India won the game, they have a lot to ponder about their performance today. It wasn’t their best or clinical show in this Asia Cup, and they would like to be at their best when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday.
Dear Oman cricket well played 👏
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 19, 2025
Read More: Asia Cup 2025: Gap between India batters & other teams too large – A numerical analysis
