Dubai: The Suryakumar Yadav-led India will ideally prefer to bat first and make full use of the 20 overs when they take on an embattled Oman in their final Asia Cup group league game that will be played in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Having already qualified for the Super 4s and with one eye on the important rematch against arch-foes Pakistan on Sunday, the Oman game is a perfect opportunity for the team management to just get some wood on leather after two lopsided low-scoring chases in the first two games.
While Abhishek Sharma has got a couple of blazing starts, Shubman Gill might want to bat a bit longer. Skipper Suryakumar had a good outing against Pakistan but he would like Tilak Varma to get some more batting time.
Ideally, the the middle-order lineup of Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel would all like to get some decent hit out there in the middle before the business week of the tournament commences, with four games in a space of seven days if India make it to the final.
Such is the quality of the Indian bowling line-up that in case Oman bat first, there is every chance of the match finishing early as Jatinder Singh and Co. have very little chance of negotiating the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy.
In Oman’s two games against Pakistan and the UAE, their batting was evidently not at its best.
The two totals of 67 and 130, while chasing in a losing cause, don’t exactly paint a rosy picture. Such has been their plight that across two games, not a single batter has crossed the individual score of 30.
Hammad Mirza scored 27 against Pakistan while Aryan Bisht made a painstaking 24 off 32 balls against UAE.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir might not like to experiment too much with the line-up except for giving a bit of breather to his lethal weapon Jasprit Bumrah — that too if he chooses to — before the Super 4s.
With only four overs to bowl and well rested after the Pakistan game, Bumrah himself might not want a break that badly but one needs to be extra cautious when it comes to taking care of the “jewel in the crown”.
That will also give the team a chance to check out Arshdeep Singh, who has been missing out due to the think tank’s obsession with multi-skilled cricketers and batting depth till No. 8.
If Gambhir wants to be slightly more experimental, then he can also play Harshit Rana, giving one among Varun or Kuldeep a rest. This will also be the only game where Suryakumar can rejig his batting order a bit.
On a different note, it will also be a welcome departure from all the unwanted controversy surrounding Suryakumar and his team’s refusal to shake hands with Pakistan players as a mark of respect for the 26 Indian tourists killed in the Pahalgam terror attack.
The only unknown factor will be the track at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, where India will play their only game of this tournament. In fact, the Indian team isn’t even going to Abu Dhabi for training as it’s a two-hour one-way bus drive.
In any case, the Indian team does a mandatory three-hour net session on training days and a four-hour bus journey (two on either side) would have certainly exhausted the players.
Therefore, they have opted for the ‘in and out’ policy wherein they travel on match day, play the game and return at night before taking an entire Saturday off ahead of playing Pakistan on Sunday.
Squads:
India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
Oman: Jatinder Singh (c), Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla, Sufyan Yousuf, Ashish Odedera, Aamir Kaleem, Mohammed Nadeem, Sufyan Mehmood, Aryan Bisht, Karan Sonavale, Zikriya Islam, Hassnain Ali Shah, Faisal Shah, Muhammed Imran, Nadeem Khan, Shakeel Ahmad, Samay Shrivastava.
Match Starts: 8 pm IST.
