Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: A gritty half-century from Sanju Samson (56 off 45) and a historic milestone for Arshdeep Singh, who became the first Indian men’s cricketer to claim 100 T20I wickets, headlined India’s 21-run victory over Oman in the Asia Cup tournament at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on September 19. After posting 188/8 — their third-highest total against an Associate nation in T20Is — India faced a stiff challenge as Oman fought hard with the bat. Skipper Jatinder Singh (32 off 33) and Aamir Kaleem gave them a solid start, adding 44 runs in the Power-play and taking the score to 56 before Kuldeep Yadav broke the stand in the ninth over.
Kaleem then stitched together a 93-run stand with Hammad Mirza, frustrating the Indian attack. Kaleem brought up his fifty off 38 balls and eventually fell for 64 off 46 in the 18th over while trying to accelerate the scoring. Mirza too played a counterattacking hand, bringing up his fifty in just 30 balls before perishing to Hardik Pandya in the penultimate over. Despite a flurry of boundaries from Jiten Ramanandi in the final over, Oman closed short at 167/4, handing India a 21-run win.
India’s bowlers had to work hard on a flat deck, with Hardik finishing on 1-26, Kuldeep picking 1-23 in his three overs, and Harshit Rana returning 1-25 with good pace. The defining moment came in the final over when Arshdeep Singh, entrusted with closing out the game, not only sealed victory but also claimed his 100th T20I wicket — moving clear at the top of India’s all-time wicket-takers’ list. Earlier, Samson anchored India’s innings after an explosive start by Abhishek Sharma, who smashed 38 off just 15 balls in the Power-play.
