Oman gave a good account of themselves and played their best cricket despite going down by 21 runs to the much fancied Indian side in Abu Dhabi. Oman were good in patches but did not have firepower to upstage India in the end. While there are a lot of positives for Oman from this game, there were areas which they lacked and we will try and ascertain the three reasons why they lost this game.
Conceding 60 runs in the powerplay put Oman on the back foot
Oman came out to bowl first after losing the toss and they did well initially getting rid of Shubman Gill early. But Abhishek Sharma proved to be too hot to handle for Oman in the powerplay. He played his natural game as Oman found it tough to control the proceedings. He scored 38 off the 60 runs in the powerplay and had Sanju Samson for company who played his part too.
Oman seemed to lack ideas in the powerplay overs as they bowled in the hitting arc while India went for their shots. Not only India scored 60 in the powerplay, they managed to get past 100 in 10 overs. Oman did a remarkable job to come back and keep India under 200 but 188 was a good score on the board and some above par on that pitch. Oman gave a good account of themselves despite the loss.
Looking ahead to the qualifiers, Oman will look to get their bowling in order particularly during the powerplay and get things right. They will try to take early wickets and also keep doing that to not give their opponents a chance to score big totals. That really should be the aim for Oman. Like we mentioned, lots of positives for them despite going down to India as they were not thrashed. They went down with their heads held high.
Going too slow with bat in hand initially made it too much to do in the death overs
In the chase of 189, Oman gave a good account of themselves from start to finish as they were willing to show the fight. They did not cave in under pressure and threw in the towel early. Instead, they played the Indian bowlers with aplomb. They went wicketless in the powerplay and had wickets in hand in the middle phase. But it seemed they timed their chase a little too late in the piece.
India despite not picking wickets were in no pressure in defending the score. Oman started well but scored only 44 in the powerplay for the loss of 0 wickets. In the middle phase, Kuldeep Yadav managed to get rid of Jatinder Singh the Oman skipper. But Aamir Kaleem and Hammad Mirza continued their merry ways and built a nice partnership of 95 runs. But Oman did not accelerate enough in the middle phase and started to accelerate in the death overs. By that time the required rate climbed upwards to different level.
They did get 67 runs in the last 6 overs but it was still 21 short of the target. Oman will learn not to get overwhelmed playing a bigger side and will definitely go for the chase earlier. They should try and go for the chase earlier if they had wickets in hand. This will be a key lesson for Oman going forward as one shouldn’t get overwhelmed by the occasion and should try and treat every match as a match. But they really enjoyed themselves out there which was pleasing to see.
Inability to dismiss Sanju Samson early dented Oman a little
Oman did really well with the ball especially in the back half of the innings to limit India to 188/8 after the Men in Blue were 100/3 in 10 overs. They managed to chip away at the wickets and never allowed anyone to go beyond half-century except one player. That player’s name is Sanju Samson who held the innings together from one end and made sure that India do no collapse in a heave.
We know Sanju Samson is a quality player and comes out all guns blazing. But yesterday in Abu Dhabi, he adjusted according to the team’s needs. Promoted to bat at 3, he held one end up while fireworks were happening in phases from the other end and scored an important half century for himself and for his team. Oman had good plans for him and kept him relatively quiet, but they couldn’t dismiss him early enough. They eventually got him for 56 off 45 balls but he had done his job by laying the platform for others to finish the job.
Oman would do well to learn from what they did wrong or fell behind and come back stronger in their future assignments. They need to be a little incisive in their bowling and come out with better plans against other opponents. Sanju’s 56 went a long way in India getting to 188 which turned out to be a winning score despite Oman’s brilliant effort with bat in hand.
What Lies Ahead
The Group Stage is done and dusted with this game. It’s time for the Super 4s to begin and today’s game takes us to the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai where the two qualifiers from Group B meet against each other. It is Sri Lanka taking on Bangladesh on 20th September 2025 at 8 PM IST. Sri Lanka won the Group stage encounter against Bangladesh. Who will come out on top tonight?
Will the Lions roar tonight and keep their unbeaten run going? Or will the Tigers extract revenge from the Group stage game and beat the Lankan lions? It is the battle of new age rivals in Dubai tonight. We shall wait and see how things unfold in Dubai later tonight.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2025: India Holds Their Nerve To Stay Unbeaten In The Tournament