IND vs OMA Asia Cup match: Samson hits fifty, SKY's bizarre decision- key takeaways

TimesofIndia.com successful Abu Dhabi: Oman turned a regular fixture into a thriller astatine the Sheikh Zayed Stadium connected Friday, rattling India earlier the favourites scraped done with a constrictive win.

What was meant to beryllium a warm-up for the Pakistan clash turned into a nail-biter, arsenic skipper Suryakumar Yadav and caput manager Gautam Gambhir watched nervously portion their broadside survived Oman’s spirited charge.India eked retired a constrictive 21-run triumph implicit Oman. After opting to bat first, India posted 188 for 8 connected a sluggish Abu Dhabi track. In reply, Oman managed 167 for 4.

SKY’s baffling call

Ahead of the Pakistan lucifer earlier successful the tournament, batting manager Sitanshu Kotak insisted that flexibility would beryllium the cardinal to India’s mediate bid successful the Asia Cup.

He made it wide that beyond the opening brace of Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma, the remainder of the batters would beryllium utilized arsenic floaters depending connected the situation.

On Friday, India turned their mediate bid connected its head. Sanju Samson was sent successful astatine No. 3, portion skipper Suryakumar Yadav kept sliding himself down. But the ploy spiralled into farce arsenic Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav batted up of him — leaving the India skipper stranded astatine No.

11, the lone subordinate who didn’t person to travel retired with the blade.India rested Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy, portion starring wicket-takers Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana got their chance.

Sanju hits breezy fifty, Axar sparkles

In India’s floating middle-order, lone Sanju Samson and Axar Patel made the astir of their opportunities against Oman.Samson walked successful astatine No. 3 to the loudest cheer from the packed Abu Dhabi crowd. He brought up his slowest T20I fifty, disconnected 41 balls, striking 3 sixes but ne'er looking afloat fluent.Axar Patel, successful contrast, was successful dismissive interaction during his 13-ball 26. He welcomed Aamir Kaleem with a six, but the left-arm spinner had the past laugh. Trying to overhit, Axar mislaid his shape, got a faint under-edge, and was sharply caught by the keeper.

Hardik Pandya fell successful the unluckiest manner — tally retired astatine the non-striker’s end. Samson’s mistimed thrust popped up, and Jiten Ramanandi’s fingertip deflection rolled onto the stumps.

Hardik stretched desperately to marque his crushed but was conscionable short.Earlier, India had mislaid Shubman Gill (5) — undone by a classical left-arm delivery. Shah Faisal’s precocious plaything went consecutive done the gates.Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma continued his explosive form, smashing a 15-ball 38. The southpaw teed disconnected with a 4 and a six earlier ending Shakeel’s implicit with different boundary.Tilak Varma (29) added the finishing touches with a mates of large sixes, and Harshit Rana, who had impressed successful the nets the erstwhile day, signed disconnected India’s innings with a six. For Oman, Shah Faisal (2/23), Jiten Ramanandi (2/33), and Aamir Kaleem (2/32) claimed 2 wickets each.

Oman amusement fight

Oman bowed retired of the tourney with 3 consecutive losses but showed existent combat against India.India, the blistery favourites, treated it similar a warm-up — arriving precocious astatine the venue, making changes successful the XI, and experimenting with the batting order. Captain Suryakumar adjacent decided not to bat. But for Oman, it was a landmark juncture — playing India for the archetypal time.Oman’s squad autobus arrived an hr and a fractional earlier India’s. They looked pumped during warm-ups. Captain Jatinder Singh embraced his counterpart Suryakumar Yadav astatine the flip and adjacent presented him with a gift.Oman’s left-arm speedy Shah Faisal bowled a imagination transportation to castle Shubman Gill and finished with a wicket-maiden — becoming the archetypal bowler from an Associate broadside to vessel a maiden wrong the archetypal six overs against India.

With the bat, Oman were arsenic impressive.Openers Jatinder Singh (32) and Aamir Kaleem (64) enactment connected a gutsy 50-run stand. They became the archetypal opening brace successful 14 matches to support India wicketless successful the powerplay. The past clip India didn’t prime up a wicket successful the powerplay was against Sri Lanka successful July 2024. It was besides the archetypal clip Oman’s openers went wicketless against a full-member broadside successful the powerplay.Veteran Aamir Kaleem, battling cramps, struck a feisty half-century. His sound ended erstwhile Hardik Pandya took a stunning moving catch, breaking the 93-run second-wicket stand. He scored 64 disconnected 46 balls, with 7 boundaries and 2 sixes.Hammad Mirza besides completed a warring half-century. His back-to-back sixes disconnected Kuldeep Yadav were a delight, and helium scored 51 earlier his dismissal ended Oman’s spirited chase.