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IND vs OMA, Asia Cup 2025: Oman captain Jatinder Singh made a desperate appeal to India to provide more support to Associate teams after his side put up a strong showing in their Asia Cup debut campaign.

In their first-ever match against India in any format, Oman gave the world's top-ranked T20I team a mini-scare in Abu Dhabi. Despite ultimately falling short in the run chase, Oman pushed India hard before going down by 21 runs.

"Well, I think if we can get India coming forward, you know, letting us make their home our home" If we can train there, go to the NCAs, train our skill, mental aspects, the fitness part, and play a lot of T20s with the club teams and Ranji teams, I think that will definitely help us and that will fill the gap," Jatinder said after the match.

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While Oman have appeared in World Cups before, this was their first taste of the Asia Cup, a tournament with a rich legacy dating back to the 1980s.

Jatinder described the exposure gained from playing against India as invaluable, emphasising the need for more chances for Associate nations to play against top-ranked teams.

"We are an Associate nation. The reality is we do not get to play with the Test playing nations. So we are so, so fortunate that we got this platform to come and play here. And I am so grateful and so proud of the boys, the way they showed up the character in the current situation," he said.

"So I think these kinds of tournaments, if it happen time and again, I think more number of Associates should be included so that they can rub shoulders and get close, fill the gap for what we have between the Test playing nations and the Associate nations," the Oman captain said.

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Reflecting on his team's spirited performance against India, Jatinder said he was proud of the character shown under pressure.

 "Of course in a game of T20 anything can happen. Any team can beat any team. So I feel the boys had their plans on and they were somewhere there. But I think overall I am so, so pleased with the performance of each and every individual, if you start with the bowling and fielding and batting respectively. I think what we lacked initially was the partnerships which I think showed great character in the crunch game," the Oman captain said.