Any combination of 11 that shows up wearing the green of Pakistan should get the job done dominantly.
Pretty much every international or continental tournament features a few entrants that have no competitive business being at that level but are still there. This boys-among-men mismatch can have a variety of reasons: representation being an important and fair one. But one suspects that it may also have something to do with some administrator somewhere thinking bigger the tournament, bigger the prize.
Whatever the reason may be, fitting into this ugly narrative beautifully are Oman. As in Oh-man, what are we doing here — such is the current state of this small cricket team that wasn’t that gifted to begin with and now faces the unenvious task of taking on Pakistan in both the teams’ first match of Asia Cup 2025 on Friday in Dubai.
This is a Pakistan side that are two-time former champions and just days ago dismantled Afghanistan — the self-proclaimed second-best team in Asia and possible even beyond — in the final of a tri-nation tournament.
It’s also a Pakistan side that can afford to axe Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan — both among top 10 run scorers of all-time in T20I cricket — and still remain competitive.
And that’s also a Pakistan side that looks such a mismatch for Oman that this piece or any other analytical preview shouldn’t even be based on them. That’d be like telling a prime Wasim Akram what to do against a helmet-less seven-year-old kid in overcast English conditions in the mid-90s.
Pakistan part of analysis is unnecessary. Any combination of 11 that shows up wearing the green should get the job done dominantly. Eleven batters and no bowlers, six spinners and five wicketkeepers, or even a team made up of the support staff should be enough. Heck, coach Mike Hesson can open the batting for Pakistan and still they should have the upper hand … on paper (more on this later).
By this point, this write-up may seem like an anti-Oman rant, but it’s not. All this hammering home of the same point would not have been needed, had this been just a weak cricketing side. After all, being bad at this or any sport is no crime at all.
The problem is that this is a side that has been completely revamped over the past two years due to a pay dispute with its cricket board. A majority of the established and experienced members of the team that last year helped Oman qualify for this Asia Cup, have been ousted — not just from the team but probably also from the country itself — in favour of completely unknown and untested replacements.
The newcomers are so new and inexperienced, that some of them do not even have their Wikipedia profiles. Their ESPNcricinfo pages make for an even sorrier viewing. For instance, all we know about this squad member Shah Faisal is that he was born in Dir on January 5, 1997. Even less is known about this other chap named Sufyan Yousaf, who does not even have a place of birth mentioned here. Another one is Nadeem Khan, who was born in Mardan on this side of the millennia but why he has a berth in the squad we don’t know.
What they’ve done on cricket fields to get this far and what their roles are, are a mystery only the Omani Cricket would be able to answer. Rubbing even more salt on the wounds of this cornered lamb is the fact that Oman have not even been given any real warm-ups.
Their last competitive T20I matches were more than six months ago in February when they lost thrice in a row to USA. On the other hand, Pakistan were super active in the format less than six days ago.
Yet, on paper at least, the Omanis have been tasked with conquering Pakistan. If that’s the order, why not ask them to cure cancer and fly to Mars either?
But here is the thing with Pakistan. They have a strange relationship with this ‘on-paper’ advantage. Sometimes, with them, what’s supposed to happen on paper does not happen at all. They did, after all, got humiliated by the US in their 2024 World Cup opener.
But the built and backstory of this Oman side tells us that they do not even have that Buster Douglas-esque chance that most Pakistani opponents enjoy.
The choice for Pakistan would be to either go full strength with one eye on the blockbuster against India on Sunday, or give some fringe players a chance. It’s probably going to be the former but neither is going to impact the final result. Hesson to open would be the pick to make though.
