Asia Cup: Indian team aims for hat-trick of wins against Oman today
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Indian team will face Oman on Friday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Team India will test its preparations before the Super-4 stage. The Indian team will aim to secure a hat-trick of victories and reach the next round. India has never played a match against Oman in the T20 format but if we look at Team India's statistics, the Oman team appears to be very weak against them. Therefore, Team India appears to have the upper hand in Friday's match.
The Indian team currently sits atop the Group A points table. India began their campaign with a 9-wicket win over the UAE. They then defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets. Oman, on the other hand is out of the title race after losing both their opening matches. They suffered a 93-run defeat against Pakistan, followed by a 42-run defeat against the UAE.
In this match, Team India will rely on Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, and Shubman Gill with the bat, while Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel can trouble the opposition with their bowling. On the other hand, Oman will rely on Jatinder Singh and Vinayak Shukla with the bat. Meanwhile, Aamir Kaleem and Samay Srivastava can play crucial roles in the team's bowling.
The pitch in Abu Dhabi is less favorable for spinners than in Dubai. Fast bowlers may find swing in the early overs, after which the pitch may become easier to bat on. The maximum temperature in Abu Dhabi on Friday is expected to be 40 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature is 28 degrees Celsius. There is no chance of rain during the match.
India's squad: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana.
Oman squad: Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh (captain), Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla (wicketkeeper), Waseem Ali, Hasnain Shah, Shah Faisal, Jiten Ramanandi, Aryan Bisht, Shakeel Ahmed, Samay Srivastava, Mohammad Nadeem, Sufyan Mahmood, Karan Sonawale, Ashish Odedara, Mohammad Imran, Zikariya Islam, Nadeem Khan, Sufyan Yousuf.