India, who are unbeaten so far in the Asia Cup, take on Oman in their third group stage game in Abu Dhabi on Friday, September 19. Suryakumar Yadav’s men have been the best team so far in this competition, and will harbour hopes of winning the title as well. The Men in Blue won this competition in 2023 and will be highly favoured to retain their title. India have shown class in all three departments of the game: batting, bowling, and fielding. Oman, on the other hand, are veritable minnows, who will be challenged by the Indian side on the basics of the game.
For Oman, standing up to India in this fixture will not be easy, especially given the enormous difference in quality between the two sides. No Oman player has as much experience as the Indian ones do, and this will discourage their efforts on the field in this clash. Oman are not known to be good players of spin either. India, with the presence of three frontline spin options, should be able to dictate terms to them all evening. In their batting unit, Oman do not have players who can rotate the strike well and hit sixes at regular intervals. This, too, shall go against their way when they meet India.
India will rest several key players for this game, the most important of whom is perhaps speedster Jasprit Bumrah. The fast bowler has borne the responsibility of India’s bowling workload for the last five-six years and has become an indispensable part of the unit. He is also considered to be the de facto leader of the bowling unit. However, he will be given some much-needed rest in this fixture, since India have already booked their spot in the Super Four stage of this competition. India’s sole aim will now be to end this phase of the tournament unbeaten and prepare well for the next stage.
Predicted Teams
IND: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.
OMN: Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh (c), Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Wasim Ali, Hassnain Shah, Shah Faisal, Jiten Ramanandi, Aryan Bisht, Shakeel Ahmed, Samay Shrivastava.
Key Players
Suryakumar Yadav (IND): India captain Suryakumar Yadav is also one of the most innovative batters in the world. He is known for his wide range of shots in which he takes on bowlers and tries to deposit them over the park in the most unsought-after areas, such as deep square leg and fine leg. Yadav is flexible and agile, and can play the pull and hook shots comfortably. He is someone who can latch onto the short ball well on either side of the wicket.
Aryan Bisht (OMN): Middle-order batter Aryan Bisht is among the most promising of all Oman players. The 20-year-old is also a handy off-spinner whom captain Jatinder Singh can rely upon in the middle overs. The youngster showed immense maturity in his 24-run knock against the UAE, off 32 deliveries, and he will have the task of taking singles and doubles at frequent intervals against the Indian spinners as well.
Match Prediction
India are the favourites to win this match, and we expect them to do so comfortably. There is no comparison between the quality that India have and that of Oman. The Men in Blue should find it not difficult to get past their opponents at all. India may tinker with their batting unit somewhat in this game, giving wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson the opportunity to come up the order. The Kerala player has not batted yet in the tournament so far, and deserves to get some game time before the Super Four phase.
