Waseem fifty
A scratchy innings from the UAE captain, but all his experience has come in. He bided his time, was once 3 off 9, then burst into life with three fours in an over against a new bowler in the powerplay. Got two lives due to fielding mishaps and brings up his fifty with what he is known for - a six down the ground
Asif Khan gone
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UAE make a play, pushing the big-hitting Asif Khan up the order to try and keep the momentum going. Unfortunately, his defensive technique is not so good. In trying to keep out a googly from Shrivastava, he brings his bat down angled and ends up inside edging onto his stumps. Oman with two wickets in 2.1 overs. Could they build on that? Waseem is at the other end, unbeaten on 40 off 36 but he could've been gone for 27 off 22 or 34 off 31
Sharafu fifty and out
Throws his head back in deep disappointment and walks off knowing he's left runs on the field. Alishan Sharafu has been excellent in giving UAE the momentum they needed after they were put in to bat, but he's gone for 51 off 38 balls. Instrumental in the powerplay, repeatedly charging at the bowlers, messing with their lengths to get a lot of his boundaries. Was very productive square of the wicket on the off side and it is aiming to that region that he loses his off stump.
Jiten Ramanandi gets the wicket and it's well-deserved because he had seen a very simple catch put down by team-mate Shakeel Ahmed just two balls ago. Waseem was the batter, beneficiary now of two fielding mishaps
Oman's blunders
The game is already slipping away from Oman, who are now making basic errors. A sub fielder isn't on the boundary at long-on. Sometimes that's fair. But it's Waseem on strike and he's the second most prolific six hitter in T20Is. The cost of not being in the right position is that he isn't able to pick up a catch and the ball lobs over for four. UAE 83 for 0 in 10 overs. They were 11 for 0 after three. From hammering those last three powerplay overs for 39 runs, the home side has been in control
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Sharafu's method
6 fours for Alishan Sharafu, all of them the result of his stepping down the track.
He's stepped out of his crease 12 times in a 22-ball innings. He stepped out three times in three balls to Hassnain Shah in the last over of the powerplay and crashed them all for four. He's understood that this is a slow pitch and he needs to make the pace himself to score quick runs.
UAE get a move on
Oman had kept the score down to 11 after three overs. And then...
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Faisal Shah bowled a very long fourth over
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Aamir Kaleem had a tough introduction into the game in the fifth over. Waseem, who was 3 off 9, took a real liking to his left-arm spin
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Slow going
Early signs of a slow pitch where if you hit a good length and keep the stumps in play, the batter has to take risks to score. Alishan Sharafu, who has earned a fair bit of pedigree playing in the ILT20, gets the first boundary away for UAE, but to do so, he needed pace on the ball, and on top of that he had to step away to the leg side.
Toss: Oman bowl
Oman captain Jatinder Singh won the toss and chose to bowl against UAE as both teams seek their first points in the Asia Cup 2025.
Oman made three changes to the XI that lost to Pakistan earlier in the tournament, with allrounders Wasim Ali and Aryan Bisht and left-arm seamer Jiten Ramanandi coming in for Mohammad Nadeem, Sufyan Mehmood and Zikria Islam. Bisht,20, is making his T20I debut.
UAE made one change from the XI that lost to India earlier in the tournament, benching left-arm spinner Simranjeet Singh for fast bowler Muhammad Jawadullah.
This is the first double-header game of the Asia Cup, played in conditions where the heat rises up to 36 degree celsius.
UAE: Muhammad Waseem (c), Muhammad Zohaib, Asif Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Rahul Chopra (wk), Dhruv Parashar, Haider Ali, Muhammad Rohid, Harshit Kaushik, Muhammad Jawad, Junaid Siddique
Oman: Jatinder Singh (c), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Wasim Ali, Hassnain Shah, Shah Faisal, Aryan Bisht, Shakeel Ahmad, Samay Shrivastava, Jitenkumar Ramanandi
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Welcome
It's the first double-header at the Asia Cup 2025. First up, the hosts UAE take on Oman. Both teams' paths have crossed rather frequently over the last three years or so and today they come together in search of their first points at this tournament. Toss and team news should be in shortly. Meanwhile, here is Andrew Fidel Fernando previewing what could lie ahead.
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