A dominant India face Oman in their third Asia Cup match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on Friday, September 19. India have convincingly won both previous fixtures against the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, while Oman have suffered consecutive defeats. The Men in Blue outclassed Pakistan, chasing a modest target of 128 in just 16 overs and displaying their superiority.
For Oman, merely surviving the Indian bowling attack will be a challenge in this fixture, given that they lack quality in their ranks. The team is made up almost entirely of migrants from the Indian subcontinent, and their meek showings against Pakistan and the UAE have not won them many fans either. India will use this game as a cushion to launch their campaign in the Super Four. They are among the favourites to lift the title here and are not expected to face many challenges from the Oman side, especially when it comes to putting runs on the board.
If Oman bat first in this game, they will not be expected to score more than 100 runs, given the lethal Indian bowling attack, which will veritably blow them away. On the other hand, if they bowl first, they should be prepared to chase a target of around 200, as they will likely be made to suffer at the hands of the iconic Indian batting unit. Led by captain Suryakumar Yadav, who scored an unbeaten 47 against Pakistan, the Men in Blue's batting unit has rarely looked troubled in this competition. The likes of Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, and Shubman Gill are all stars who are expected to deliver in this game and help India remain unbeaten in the group phase.
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
Varun Chakaravarthy (IND): Mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy will have a big role to play for India in this match. He is known to get the ball to turn both ways with his special action, and the Oman batters will find it difficult to read him. If they fail to pick up his variations from the hand and rely solely on the turn of the ball off the pitch, the Oman batting unit will struggle, as they will be rushed into playing shots they could normally have avoided. The Tamil Nadu spinner will be India's ace.
Jiten Ramanandi (OMN): Jiten Ramanandi impressed with his all-round showing against the UAE, picking up two wickets with the ball and then returning to score 13 with the bat. He will be the one given the task of nudging the Indian batters into making poor decisions in this game. The left-arm medium pacer, who operates primarily as a bowling all-rounder, can use his subtle variations of pace to trouble batters.
Match Prediction
Oman stand no chance in front of a belligerent Indian side whatsoever. The latter are expected to win this game, and that too by a considerable margin. Yadav's men seem to have covered all their bases, and while their batting unit is world-class, their bowlers are no minnows. The likes of Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya will all be crawling over the Oman batters and rarely giving them any breathing space. While their bowling leader Jasprit Bumrah is expected to be rested in this match, spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy will fancy themselves against the brittle footwork of the Oman batters.