Abu Dhabi, Sep 19: A gritty half-century by Sanju Samson (56 off 45) guided India to 188/8 in their 20 overs, their third-highest innings total against an Associate nation in T20Is, in their last league match of the Men's T20 Asia Cup before a packed Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium crowd on Thursday night.

The innings closed in style with a towering maximum from Harshit Rana, but credit was due to Oman’s bowlers for holding their nerve and preventing India from breaching the 200-mark. India’s only bigger totals against Associates remain 202 for 4 versus Nepal in Hangzhou 2023 and 192 for 2 against Hong Kong in Dubai 2022.

Earlier in the evening, skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to bat first, but the start was far from ideal as vice-captain Shubman Gill was cleaned up by Faisal Shah for just five in the second over.

Abhishek Sharma counterattacked in trademark fashion, blasting 38 off just 15 deliveries in a whirlwind innings that lit up the Power-play before Jiten Ramanandi provided the breakthrough. India made a surprise move by sending Hardik Pandya up to number four, but his stay was cut short in the most unfortunate manner.

Samson struck a straight drive, Ramanandi got a fingertip on it in his follow-through, and Pandya was run out for just 1 at the non-striker’s end.

The innings regained momentum as Axar Patel joined Samson, and the pair counterattacked brilliantly to add 45 runs off only 23 balls for the fourth wicket. Axar’s cameo of 26 from 13 balls ended just as quickly, and soon after, Shivam Dube fell cheaply for five, leaving India wobbling at 130 for 5 in the 14th over. From there, Tilak Varma, unusually pushed down to number seven, came in to join Samson.

While Samson took on the anchor’s role, albeit looking scratchy at the start, he settled into his innings and eventually brought up a hard-fought half-century in 41 balls — the third slowest by an Indian in Men’s Asia Cup T20 history. Battling the sweltering heat, Samson’s innings ended at 56, but not before giving India the stability they needed. Tilak, meanwhile, chipped in with a valuable 29 off 18 balls to stretch the score further.

Harshit Rana provided a handy cameo at the end, striking cleanly before sealing the innings with a towering maximum as India closed at 188/8 from their 20 overs. Interestingly, skipper Suryakumar Yadav never made it out to the crease, choosing instead to hold himself back and allow his teammates to take center stage with the bat.

For Oman, the bowling honours were shared between Faisal Shah, who returned figures of 2 for 23, Jiten Ramanandi with 2 for 33, and Aamir Kaleem, who took 2 for 31, with the three spinners accounting for six wickets between them and keeping India from running away to a bigger score.

Brief scores:

India 188/8 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 56, Abhishek Sharma 38; Aamir Kaleem 2-31, Jiten Ramanandi 2-33) against Oman

--IANS

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