Title contenders India almost paid the price for taking underdogs Oman lightly to eke out a 21-run victory in their final Asia Cup league game in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Chasing a 189-run target, Oman almost took the wind out of India’s sails with a remarkable performance to send jitters in camp of the most successful team in Asia Cup history.
Oman got off to a decent start with captain Jatinder Singh and Aamir Kaleem putting up a 56-run opening stand. Jatinder hit 5 fours in his 33-ball 32-run knock before he chopped on a Kuldeep Yadav delivery onto his stumps.
But Aamir Kaleem and Hammad Mirza kept Oman in the hunt with a 93-run stand for the second wicket and together the two threatened to take their team to a huge upset victory against the T20 World Cup champions.
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Kaleem, who reached his 50 off 38 balls, smashed 2 sixes and 7 fours in his 64-run knock that came off 46 balls before Hardik Pandya took a brilliant running catch at the fine-leg fence.
At 43 years, 303 days, Aamir Kaleem became the oldest batter to score 50-plus against a full-member nation and his 93-run stand with Hammad Mirza is Oman's highest against a full-member nation, and also the most India has conceded against an Associate team.
Pandya then dismissed Hammad Mirza in the next over, having him caught by Rinku Singh at mid-off. Mirza, who reached his 50 off just 30 balls, struck 2 sixes and 5 fours in his 51-run knock that came off 33 balls.
In the next over – the penultimate of the Oman innings - Arshdeep Singh became the first Indian cricketer to complete 100 T20I wickets by dismissing Vinayak Shukla (1).
Oman managed 167/4 in their 20 overs, but the match that was being touted as a batting practice game for India, almost went down in history as one of the biggest upsets.
Earlier, Sanju Samson capitalised on some much-needed time in the middle as skipper Suryakumar Yadav rotated the batting order to give every player a chance, guiding India to a competitive 188/8.
The one-drop position required a right-hander because vice-captain Shubman Gill was dismissed cheaply, and Samson (56 off 45 balls) was given an opportunity to bat in the top three.
On a somewhat slow track, it wasn't the most seamless of his innings, but three fours and three sixes would undoubtedly boost his confidence before the business week.
His pick-up shot over widish long-on, the first maximum off left-arm seamer Shah Faisal, stood out among all of his huge shots, although he struggled to get going due to a lack of match time.
Arriving at No. 7, Tilak Varma (29 off 18 balls) contributed to the score as well.
In order to give their underutilized middle-order enough time before Sunday's match against Pakistan, it was very clear that India would want to bat first and employ all 20 overs before the Super 4s began.
The batting order was appropriately rearranged to give Samson his preferred spot, moving Axar Patel (26 off 13 balls) ahead of batting all-rounder Shivam Dube (5) or specialist left-hander Tilak.
Hardik Pandya was given an opportunity to get a few hits by skipper Surya, who shifted himself down to No. 11. However, the all-rounder was run-out at the non-striker's end after a Samson straight drive bounced off the bowler's hands and struck the stumps.
Abhishek Sharma, who once again struck a scorching 38 off 15 balls, his third straight score of 30 or more, set the pace, and left-handed Axar did his job flawlessly to keep it up. Harshit Rana added to the total at the finish with an undefeated 13 and a six off the final ball.
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