Asia Cup: Pakistan eye a quick demolition job vs Oman

All roads lead to Dubai over the next two days, although Pakistan took the much-travelled road to the city from Sharjah some days back following their win against Afghanistan in the tri-series final on September 7. Understandably, the chatter is all about their blockbuster clash against India on Sunday, but before that, Salman Ali Agha’s men have a small matter of negotiating Oman, who are playing in Asia Cup for the first time.

Pakistan would have seen India decimate the UAE, a side they also beat twice in the recent tri-series, but by more respectable margins. While Oman are unlikely to throw a curveball at the two-time Asia Cup champions, Pakistan will be wary of what transpired the last time they played against an associate member nation prior to taking on India in a T20 tournament. More on that as we look at a few interesting titbits about the two sides.

Oman’s cricketers were caught up in a pay dispute earlier this year and while the issue has been sorted, most of the established players from that squad are no longer playing for Oman, while more than half the names in this Asia Cup team were not even part of the 2024 T20 World Cup side. They last played T20I cricket in February, when they lost three games to the USA. For a side that has seen such turmoil, Jatinder Singh has stood like a rock. The captain and opener has been serving Oman cricket for a decade, and at 36, continues to be their talisman. He is their highest scorer and has made half-centuries in two of the three games Oman has played this year.

Speaking of USA, they will always be the reason why Pakistan will not take Oman lightly, no matter what upheaval the Gulf side may have gone through. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, Pakistan lost to the USA before their game against India, where defeat knocked them out of the tournament. In a format where just an over can change the complexion of a match, Pakistan will be hoping to do to Oman what India did to the UAE, pack up early and get enough rest before the big clash on Sunday.

No Babar Azam and no Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan’s two most prolific batters over the years, which means coach Mike Hesson is trying to change the way Pakistan approach T20 cricket. The duo, despite all the solidity in the middle, has more often than not failed to adapt to the lightning-fast pace of the shorter white-ball format, with strike rates hovering around the 125-130 mark, which these days, is slow ever for ODIs. With Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan inconsistent, Hasan Nawaz underperforming, and all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz having to do the heavy lifting both as a batter and a bowler, the batting line-up really needs to step up. Fakhar Zaman was the only Pakistan batsman among the top-5 run-getters in the recent tri-series with 155 runs in 5 matches, with Nawaz at No. 6 with 120 runs. The bowling fared better, with Nawaz and Abrar Ahmed sharing 16 wickets in the tri-series. Shaheen Shah Afridi seems to have momentarily lost his mojo, but never count out the left-arm speedster who can run through any top-order batting with his searing pace.

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