ASIA CUP 2025
On a slow surface, where run scoring was difficult, Mohammad Haris scored a 43-ball 66 © AFP
Pakistan began the Asia Cup 2025 campaign with a clinical 93-run victory over Oman on the back of Mohammad Haris’s quickfire fifty and a complete bowling performance led by the spinners. A stroke-filled 66 off 43 from Haris, coming in at one-down, and late cameos propelled Pakistan to a commanding 160/6 on a slow Dubai surface. Barring an expensive powerPlay over, Oman never looked in the chase and lost wickets in heaps in the middle overs to succumb to 67 all out inside 17 overs.
Where was the match won?
Pakistan also lost wickets in the second half of their middle-overs, but Oman’s was a continuous procession with seven scalps, a poor run-rate of just two and 43 dots.
Middle Overs Pakistan Oman Runs 64 18 Wickets 3 7 Run-rate 7.11 2
PAKISTAN
PowerPlay: Haris leads the way
Phase score:47/1 at 7.83 [4X4s | 1x6s]
An early jolt after opting to bat saw Haris take guard on the third ball of the game, and he helped Pakistan close out the PowerPlay with a healthy strike-rate. The one-down batter slog-swept Aamir Kaleem into deep-midwicket and followed it up with a cover-boundary to make it an expensive finish to the PowerPlay. Both teams, meanwhile, unnecessarily burnt a review each. Pakistan, and Saim Ayub, on a plumb LBW off Shah Faisal in the very first over, and Oman later in a desperate attempt to see the back of Haris with the ball clearly going down leg. A reprieve earlier to Farhan cost Oman 27 runs and left the bowler, Shakeel Ahmed, fuming.
Middle overs: Kaleem halts Pakistan’s progress
Phase Score:64/3 at 7.11 [5x4s| 2x6s]
It was a passage of two halves with a collapse of 3 for 3 at the backend, setting Pakistan back. Once he got his eye in on Dubai’s slower track, Haris continued the assault on Oman to race to a 32-ball half-century. Samay Shrivastava was welcomed with a six second-ball, and so was Sufiyan Mehmood to reach the milestone in style. Farhan played the second fiddle through this stand of 85, making a run-a-ball 29 quietly in the background before a soft dismissal. He was caught by Kaleem off his own bowling. From there on, Oman clawed back with miserly overs and Kaleem’s two more wickets. He bowled the other set batter – Haris attempting a reverse sweep only to see an inside edge sneak onto the stumps, and Pakistan skipper Salman Agha offered a dolly off a full toss first ball.
Death overs:Nawaz helps Pakistan finish strong
Phase score:49/3 at 9.8 [6x4s]
The slog overs also began quietly, and brought another wicket but Mohammad Nawaz made his intentions clear from the word go. His boundary-filled 10-ball cameo worth 19 put his team back on track. Fakhar Zaman, who witnessed the collapse around him, also chipped in a vital 23 not out to the team’s cause. Pakistan plundered 35 runs off the last-three overs to post a strong 160/6.
OMAN
PowerPlay: Rollercaster start in tall chase
Phase score:40/2 at 6.67 [3x4s | 2×6]
After bagging a golden duck, Saim redeemed himself with a first-ball wicket in PowerPlay to castle the Oman skipper with a carrom ball that spun sharply. Kaleem then took apart Shaheen Afridi with a six and a four in the third over, but Saim trapped him plumb in front to nip that threat in the bud too. On either side of that expensive 17-run over was dry overs from spinners operating in tandem early, allowing Oman only 40 from their PowerPlay.
Middle overs: Cheap wickets derail Oman
Phase Score:18/7 at 2 [2x4s]
Runs dried up, wickets fell in a heap and Pakistan sent down 43 dots. Sufiyan Muqeem struck twice in quick succession. Mohammed Nadeem top-edged a bouncer from the left-armer to short-fine, and Hammad Mirza similarly popped a sharp catch to first slip while slog-sweeping. In between, Sufiyan Mehmood was caught at deep midwicket attempting a slogsweep off Nawaz, and Vinayak Shukla was run out in the following over trying to squeeze in a tight single. The 4 for 8 collapse proved fatal to their hopes. Wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals with pacers returning to turn up the heat. Zikria Islam took an ill-advised wild swipe at a full ball outside off, only to inside-edge it through to the ‘keeper and give Faheem Ashraf his first wicket. Afridi, at the other end, cleaned up Shah Faisal. Hassnain Shah dragged on, trying to go big on the legside.
Death overs: Writing on the wall
Phase score: 9/1 at 5.4 [1×6]
The last-wicket pair frustrated Pakistan for 4.3 overs, with Shakeel Ahmed even lofting Abrar Ahmed over the long-off ropes. One ball later, though, he tried it again but this time found Afridi taking a simple reverse-cup catch to bring curtains on Oman’s fight.
Brief scores: Pakistan 160/6 in 20 overs (Mohammad Haris 66, Shaibzada Farhan 29; Amir Kaleem 3-31, Shah Faisal 3-34) beat Oman 67 in 16.4 overs (Hammad Mirza 27; Saim Ayub 2-8, Sufiyan Muqeem 2-7) by 93 runs
© Cricbuzz
