India close Asia Cup 2025 group stages on high with a clinical finish against Oman

Team India concluded their group stages in the Asia Cup 2025 with a clinical win, as they beat Oman in what was a relatively high-scoring encounter. The match did take an interesting turn in the center and it had all the ingredients to be a thrilling blockbuster during Oman's chase of the 189-run target, however, when Harshit Rana got the better of the set batter Aamir Kaleem, it was the end of the road for Jatinder Singh's team.

Winning the toss, India opted to bat first. Suryakumar Yadav was keen for India's batters to get a bit of a hit out in the center with the Men in Blue's first Super Fours clash coming up this Sunday. Much to the shock of the Indian fans, Shubman Gill (5) was sent packing by Faisal Shah in an early jolt. That heralded the arrival of Sanju Samson, who anchored the innings on what seemed like a tricky surface.

Abhishek Sharma, however, had no intentions of exercising caution. He went for an all-out attack, peppering the bowlers into all corners of the park. Thanks to Sharma’s rollicking start, India did get a solid platform up front. Eventually, the dynamic opener was dismissed for a 15-ball-38, and the fall of Abhishek's wicket opened up uncharted gates for Team India.

Oman were quick to latch onto the bandwagon of dominance as Hardik Pandya (1) was unfortunate to be run-out at the non-striker’s end after Ramanandi got a slight fingertip off his own bowling before the ball deflected onto the stumps. Axar Patel (26) charged back with a solid riposte but couldn’t maximise his potential as Aamir Kaleem removed him too.

Things started looking bleak for the Indian team when Shivam Dube (5) came up short against Kaleem. As everyone expected Suryakumar Yadav to step out in the center, the Indian skipper was happy to soak in all the action from the dugout. Tilak Varma’s arrival fastened up the scoring rate while Sanju Samson continued with his solid stance at the other end.

By the time Samson was done with his systematic destruction of the Oman bowlers, he already had scored 56. Faisal Shah removed Samson, leaving India in a spot of bother. Varma was quick to fall too as Ramanandi came up with another special delivery. Harshit Rana’s late charge of 13, which included a six over cover point saw India rack up 188 at the end of their 20 overs. Faisal Shah was the pick of the bowling lot with figures of 2/23 from his allotment of four overs.

Shooting down a monumental total of 189, Oman did well to keep away from losing early wickets. Despite a slow start, the pair of Jatinder Singh (32) and Aamir Kaleem (64) looked in total control as the duo kept the scorecard ticking. It was the introduction of Kuldeep Yadav that rattled the partnership as he claimed the big wicket of the Oman skipper.

However, that did very little to dampen the Oman spirits as an incoming Hammad Mirza brought in some serious firepower to the fore. After the opening partnership of 56 runs, the second wicket stand between Mirza (51) and Kaleem shot up to 93 runs which set the cat among the pigeons in the India camp.

However, a stunning catch by Hardik Pandya at deep fine leg finally provided the all-important breakthrough that saw the back of a fiery Kaleem, opening the gates of a turnaround for the Men in Blue. Once Kaleem was back to the pavilion, Hardik Pandya removed Mirza in no time and from thereon, it was just a matter of moments that India secured the bragging rights of the game.

India secured a 21-run win against Oman as a collective performance from the trio of Hardik Pandya, Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav sealed the deal for the Men in Blue. Sanju Samson won the Player of the Match award for his fine half-century.