• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

India vs Oman, Asia Cup 2025: In an interesting turn of events, the Indian captain avoided coming out to bat during the Asia Cup 2025 group A match against Oman at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

After opting to bat first, India posted a challenging total of 188/8 in their 20 overs. This was the first time India got to bat first in the ongoing tournament. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav spoke about giving the team some batting in the middle ahead of the Super Four.

ALSO READ: India vs Oman LIVE Cricket Score, Asia Cup 2025 Updates

The senior batter didn't come out to bat in the innings. India lost 8 wickets, but the captain was the sole player who didn't have a hit, as he demoted himself down to the 11th position.


Why did Suryakumar Yadav not Bat?

The decision by Suryakumar to demote himself and not even come out to bat was seen as a sacrifice move to allow the other batters to get the batting exposure in the middle.

ALSO READ: India Creates History Against Oman, Becomes Only 2nd Team In T20I Cricket After Pakistan To...

There wasn't any injury issue seen with Suryakumar as he came out fit and fine at the toss and was even seen padded up. Notably, Sanju Samson came in at his usual no. 3 position and scored a half-century, while even the bowlers also batted ahead of him.

Samson was the top run-getter for the Men in Blue with an impressive knock of 56 runs in 45 balls, whereas Abhishek Sharma once again came up with an entertaining and fiery contribution of 38 runs in just 18 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes.

Tilak Varma (29 off 18 balls), coming in at No.7, also did his bit to prop up the score. The batting order was rightly shuffled, giving Samson his favourite slot, promoting Axar Patel (26 off 13 balls) ahead of specialist left-hander Tilak or batting all-rounder Shivam Dube (5).

Towards the end, Harshit Rana also contributed with an unbeaten 13 and hit a six off the last ball. The Men in Blue, who already have a couple of wins under their belt, brought in Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana to replace Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy.


India vs Oman Playing XIs, Asia Cup 2025

India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson(w), Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav

Oman: Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh(c), Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla(w), Shah Faisal, Zikria Islam, Aryan Bisht, Mohammad Nadeem, Shakeel Ahmed, Samay Shrivastava, Jiten Ramanandi