Oman's reckless batting could not keep a candle up for his disciplined bowling effort when Pakistan achieved a 93-run victory despite the score of a medium 160 in their Asia cup in the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Friday.
After a glimpse of fighting with 40 runs for the loss of two wickets in the PowerPlay, Oman was reduced to 49 for six in the halfway through the innings. No. 3 batter Hammad Mirza showed promise with a 23-ball 27, punching Pakistan's pace ace Shaheen Afridi for a four and sweeping left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz for a six, but ran out of patience when he went sweeping Sufiyan Muqeem from wide outside off to offer the slip fielder a quick grab.
Pakistan's spinkwartet of Saim Ayub, Abrar Ahmed, Nawaz and Muqeem were too hot for Oman to handle. Ayub, the part-timer, misled Oman-Schipper Jatinder Singh with one who ran away to hit the off-stump and to fox with aamir kaleem. Muqeem and Nawaz joined the act before Pacers Shaheen and Faheem Ashraf cleaned up the tail. The last battle pair Shakeel Ahmed and Samay Shrivastava resist for 27 balls, but it was a losing struggle.
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Earlier it was not easy for Pakistan with the bat. Mohammad Haris (66, 43b, 7×4, 3×6) had to navigate through the burrs.
The strike speed of the flashy right -handed of 153.48 held his first battle, including six false shots in the first 18 balls with which he was confronted. But when he dropped medium-pacer sufyan mehmood over deep midwicket for a six to herald half a century of 32 ball and hit the next delivery to the border through the same region, that period of battle was far behind him.
Haris eventually died to play a reverse sweeping to a delivery that threw well outside the leg stump, and skipper Salman Ali Agha fell completely throwing the next ball in a rank.
With the innings that lose steam after a series of bad shots, Nawaz and Fakhar Zaman save the late overs and Pakistan's Under-Par show with the bat.
Published on September 12, 2025
