Asia Cup 2025: Pakistan vs Oman, Match 4 - Who Said What?

Published - 12 Sept 2025, 23:47 IST | Updated - 13 Sept 2025, 00:01 IST

Pakistan comfortably opened their Asia Cup 2025 account on September 12, defeating Oman by 93 runs in the Match No. 4 of the tournament at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Pakistan skipper Salman Agha won the toss and elected to bat, fielding the same playing combination as their earlier tri-series outing.

When it came to their batting, the innings got off to a shaky start as Saim Ayub was dismissed for a duck on the first ball. However, the wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris and Sahibzada Farhan steadied the ship with an 85-run partnership off 64 balls for the second wicket. Haris played a brilliant knock of 66 runs from 43 balls, including seven fours and three sixes, to guide the Men in Green to a competitive total.

In the middle overs, the Omani bowlers fought back, taking wickets at regular intervals and preventing any lasting partnerships. Pakistan finished at 160/7 in their allotted overs, with Shah Faisal (3/34) and Aamir Kaleem (3/31) leading the bowling effort for the side playing their first-ever edition of the premier continental competition in all of Asia.

Oman’s chase faltered against the opposition's disciplined and a lethal spin attack. Hammad Mirza top-scored with 27 runs from 23 balls, but the team could not build momentum and were bowled out for 67 in 16.4 overs. For Agha & Co., bowling stars included Saim Ayub, Sufiyan Muqeem, and Faheem Ashraf, who took two wickets each, while Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, and Mohammad Nawaz picked up one wicket apiece as well.

It was very good. It was a much needed innings for me and Pakistan. When we came here it was looking very good, very flat but the ball was not coming on and we did well to put the runs on the board. That was what I was doing for Pakistan and in the PSL, the skipper also told me to play aggressively.

Restricting them to under 160, I am very proud of the boys on how we bowled. They executed the plans that were discussed. We didn't rotate the strike, there were some nerves and our team is better than what we performed today. (message to the team) To back ourselves, play positive cricket and not see who is bowling.

With the bat we still need some work. The bowling was outstanding, I am happy with the bowling unit. We have three spinners and they are all different, even Ayub, we have 4-5 good options and you need that when playing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. With the start we got, we should have got 180 but that's how cricket goes. We have been playing some really good cricket, we won the tri-series and won here comfortably, if we executed our plans for a longer period then we are good enough to beat any team.