Dominant Pakistan Crushes Oman by 93 Runs in Asia Cup 2025 Opener

In a display marked by erratic batting, Oman couldn’t match its disciplined bowling performance, leading to a 93-run loss to Pakistan, which posted a modest total of 160 in their Asia Cup encounter at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Oman showed some fight early on, scoring 40 runs for the loss of two wickets during the PowerPlay. However, their innings quickly faltered, collapsing to 49 for six by the halfway mark. No. 3 batsman Hammad Mirza offered a glimmer of hope with a 23-ball 27, hitting a four off Pakistan’s pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi and a six off left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz. His patience, however, wore thin as he attempted to sweep Sufiyan Muqeem from outside off-stump, resulting in a catch at slip.

Pakistan’s spin attack, consisting of Saim Ayub, Abrar Ahmed, Nawaz, and Muqeem, proved overwhelming for Oman. Part-timer Ayub claimed the wicket of Oman captain Jatinder Singh with a delivery that spun away to hit the off-stump and deceived Aamir Kaleem with a dipping delivery. Muqeem and Nawaz then continued the onslaught before pacers Shaheen and Faheem Ashraf mopped up the tail. Despite a brief resistance by the last batting pair, Shakeel Ahmed and Samay Shrivastava, lasting 27 balls, the effort was in vain.

Earlier, Pakistan faced challenges while batting. Mohammad Haris, contributing a crucial 66 off 43 balls, including seven fours and three sixes, had to endure early difficulties. His strike rate of 153.48 disguised the struggles, including six false shots in his first 18 deliveries. However, he turned the tide with a six over deep midwicket off medium-pacer Sufyan Mehmood, reaching his half-century in 32 balls and following it up with a boundary in the same area.

Haris eventually succumbed to a reverse-sweep to a delivery outside the leg-stump, while captain Salman Ali Agha fell to the very next ball, a full toss. Despite the innings losing momentum due to a series of poor shots, Nawaz and Fakhar Zaman managed to redeem Pakistan’s subpar batting performance in the closing overs.

Published on Sep 12, 2025