Chance for India to test bench strength in clash against Oman

It is roughly a 130-kilometre stretch over 90 minutes that can take the Indian crew from its resort in Dubai to the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi for the Group-A encounter against Oman in the Asia Cup on Friday. If India’s nine-wicket victory in its opening recreation against the United Arab Emirates, which lasted all of 17.4 overs, is a sign, the journey to the venue could also be as arduous because it will get for the in-form Suryakumar Yadav-led outfit in the inconsequential fixture.

The Men in Blue, who certified for the Super Four section with resounding wins over the UAE and Pakistan, are far too superior to the crew from the Middle East to anticipate something lower than one other facile triumph in the penultimate match of the preliminary section. This would be the first assembly between the 2 nations.

So far in the event, the Indians haven’t hit a false notice. In their first match, they bundled out the UAE for 57 and raced dwelling in lower than 5 overs. Pakistan was anticipated to provide a extra inflexible examination, however India’s bowlers produced one other stellar exhibiting, limiting the arch-rival to 127 for 9 to clinch a seven-wicket rout.

Before the Super Four section will get underway for India with one other high-stakes outing against Pakistan on Sunday, this is a chance to give a few of its gamers on the bench a run out. Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh have had to bide their time on the sidelines in the primary two video games. Arshdeep, in explicit, should be chomping on the bit for an opportunity, given he additionally spent the whole lot of the five-Test collection in England as an alternative. The left-arm pacer, one shy of 100 wickets in T20Is, is India’s highest wicket-taker in the format, however the crew stability on these spin-friendly surfaces has not merited greater than the lone specialist fast in Jasprit Bumrah.

“These pitches have been very helpful for spin. During the Champions Trophy, the surfaces were slow. But now, there is a lot more bounce and zip off the surface,” left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav instructed the media on Thursday.

Before the Oman gamers rub shoulders with among the finest in the enterprise, they need to be buoyed by coach Duleep Mendis’ message. “You can perform over and over again with the small countries. But you will not be known. If you have one or two big performances against good sides, then you are recognised. This type of opportunity, they will never get,” Mendis instructed The Hindu on Wednesday.

The groups (from): India: Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh. Oman: Jatinder Singh (Capt.), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza (wk), Vinayak Shukla (wk), Sufyan Yousaf (wk), Mohammad Nadeem, Nadeem Khan, Karan Sonavale, Hassnain Shah, Shakeel Ahmed, Samay Shrivastava, Sufyan Mehmood, Aryan Bisht, Muhammed Imran, Ashish Odedara, Jiten Ramanandi, Shah Faisal, Zikria Islam.