Asia Cup 2025: India choose to bat first after winning toss against Oman in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to bat first in their final group stage encounter against Jatinder Singh-led Oman at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on Friday. With the highly anticipated India vs Pakistan clash scheduled just two days later, India are expected to rotate their squad slightly for this fixture.

Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah is likely to be rested, paving the way for either Arshdeep Singh or Harshit Rana to feature. Arshdeep, currently India’s highest wicket-taker in T20 internationals, is yet to play a game in this Asia Cup campaign.

Having already secured convincing victories over Hong Kong and Pakistan, India’s batting unit has not been fully tested so far, which could mean that the top order remains unchanged against Oman.

The India vs Oman clash in Abu Dhabi is set to be played in sweltering conditions. At the scheduled 6.30 pm local start, the mercury is expected to hover around 36°C before easing to about 32°C as the evening progresses. Some forecasts even point to highs touching 40°C, with temperatures dipping to nearly 28°C later at night.

Despite the variation in predictions, the combination of heat and humidity is likely to test the players’ endurance. On the brighter side, there is no threat of rain, ensuring the fixture will proceed as planned.

India full squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.

Oman full squad: Jatinder Singh (c), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Wasim Ali, Hassnain Shah, Shah Faisal, Jiten Ramanandi, Aryan Bisht, Shakeel Ahmed, Samay Shrivastava, Mohammad Nadeem, Sufyan Mehmood, Karan Sonavale, Ashish Odedara, Mohammad Imran, Zikria Islam, Nadeem Khan, Sufyan Yousaf.