India eye hat-trick, Oman out to save face in Abu Dhabi

The first round stage of the T20 Asia Cup will close with India playing Oman in Abu Dhabi on Friday, a match that has significance only for statistical purposes – unless you really think that India will want to further boost a net run-rate (NRR) of 4.793 when the next best in their group, Pakistan, sit at 1.790.

India are comfortably on top of Group A after beating UAE and Pakistan in Dubai, and will fancy a hat-trick of victories against a team that has been defeated by 93 runs and 43 runs respectively. 

India have played a solitary T20I at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. This was during their sloppy 2021 T20 World Cup campaign, when they beat Afghanistan by 66 runs in a must-win game to boost their NRR. This time around, the situation is vastly different but the conditions almost the same as in Dubai, and this is why India are the best team in the Asia Cup. 

India’s spinners, no surprises, have dominated the two wins in Dubai. Kuldeep Yadav has seven wickets at 3.57 apiece with an economy rate of 4.05; Axar Patel’s left-arm spin has netted him three wickets at 10:33; the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has just two wickets but has also kept a lid on run-scoring opportunities. 

Getting past Jasprit Bumrah in the Powerplay is one thing, but then trying to score off India’s three spinners in the middle overs is another. Just ask Pakistan, who last Sunday were squeezed to the extent of losing 6/60 in 12 overs from Kuldeep, Axar and Chakravarthy. Or hosts UAE, who crashed from 47/2 to 57 all out as Kuldeep picked up 4/7 in 13 deliveries. 

India might opt to give Bumrah a breather ahead of the second round, in which case Arshdeep Singh – stuck on 99 T20I wickets – should get a game. 

If Bumrah does play, it will be interesting to see if Suryakumar Yadav uses him as he has so far in the Asia Cup – three overs inside the Powerplay – or goes back to a more conventional 2-2 over split upfront and at the backend of Oman’s innings. 

Oman had their share of struggles against Pakistan’s spinners en route to being bowled out for 67 in Abu Dhabi, and then against UAE they fared somewhat better in making 130 in pursuit of a target of 173. The challenge is massive for Oman, even if India take it easy and rest some players.