Pakistan scored 160-7 on the back of Mohammad Haris’s 66 after electing to bat first against Oman in their opening Twenty20 International (T20I) encounter of the men’s Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai on Friday.
The Green Shirts go into the tournament on a high, having convincingly beaten Afghanistan in the final of a tri-series, also involving hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE), last week.
Mohammad Haris top-scored with 66 of 43 deliveries after being sent at his preferred position of one down for a change after a string of failures down the order in the tri-series.
Oman restricted the Pakistani batters to 160-7 after the Green Shirts were 85-1 at the halfway mark of the first innings.
Saim Ayub was the first to fall for the Green Team when pacer Shah Faisal trapped him lbw on the third ball of the innings — the opening pair failing to get a good start again.
Opener Sahibzada Farhan was given a reprieve in the very next over when he was dropped at point off the bowling of left-arm spinner Shakeel Ahmed.
Haris went after spinner Aamir Kaleem in his very first over — taking 16 off the 6th over with two boundaries and a six as Pakistan ended the powerplay at 47-1.
Haris’s 50 came up with a huge six over the midwicket boundary off the bowling of Sufyan Mehmood — taking 32 deliveries to reach his second 50-plus score in T20Is.
Pakistan were 85-1 at the halfway mark of the innings, with both Haris and Farhan set at the crease.
However, Kaleem got a chance at redemption when he caught Farhan in the very next over off his bowling — after dropping him earlier in the innings when he had scored only 2.
The left-arm spinner continued on his redemption arc as he got the well-set Haris and skipper Salman off consecutive deliveries in the 13th over.
Haris got bowled while attempting a switch hit off Kaleem, while Salman hit a full toss straight to deep mid-wicket — the Pakistani skipper getting out for a golden duck.
Kaleem ended with figures of 3-31 and was ably supported by his fellow left-arm spinner Ahmed — who conceded just 17 runs of his quota of 4 overs.
The duo kept the Pakistani batters in check through the middle overs after the loss of Salman’s wicket.
Hassan Nawaz was the next man to fall for the Green Shirts as he got caught at the cover boundary off a slower ball by the Dir-born Faisal.
Player of the match in their win against Afghanistan — Mohammad Nawaz brought the momentum back to the Green Shirts’ innings — hitting 3 boundaries in the first five balls that he faced.
However, Oman’s bowlers did not let the match get away from their hands — keeping Pakistan from getting a huge total in the first innings.
Captain Salman Ali Agha, speaking at the toss, had said: “The team has been playing good cricket for the last two to three months and we will look to continue that form.”
There were no changes in the playing eleven from the team that won against Afghanistan.
The Green Shirts were clear favourites going into this encounter against Oman, who are ranked 20th in the International Cricket Council T20I rankings and last played competitive T20I matches more than six months ago in February — when they lost thrice in a row to the USA.
The Green Team will face India next on Sunday — the arch-rivals will clash in a geopolitically-charged contest in Dubai. It will be the first cricket match between the sides since four days of military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.
White-ball head coach Mike Hesson dismissed concerns about the national squad’s batting performance on Thursday ahead of the upcoming clash with India.
Questioned during a pre-match press conference in Dubai about the team’s batting performance and judgement, Hesson said he was “not quite sure” where the concerns were arising from, saying the team had played against the “best wrist spin attack” in the world and won by over 70 runs against Afghanistan in the tri-series final.
The eight-nation T20 tournament began on Tuesday with Afghanistan beating Hong Kong by 94 runs. India crushed the hosts, the UAE, by nine wickets on Wednesday.
Pakistan, India, Oman and UAE are in Group A, while Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Bangladesh form Group B.
The top two teams from each Group will qualify for the Super Four stage.
The top two teams will then play the September 28 final in Dubai.
Teams:
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Hasan Nawaz, Muhammad Haris (wicket-keeper), Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Abrar Ahmed and Muhammad Nawaz.
Oman: Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh (capt), Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Hassnain Shah, Shah Faisal, Mohammad Nadeem, Zikria Islam, Sufyan Mehmood, Shakeel Ahmed, and Samay Shrivastava
