India’s cricket team has opted to rest star spinner Varun Chakravarthy for their match against Oman in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025, held at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The pitch conditions at this venue have not been as conducive to spin bowling as those in Dubai, prompting the management to bring in pace bowler Harshit Rana. Chakravarthy has taken two wickets in the tournament so far.
Additionally, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah is also being rested for this match. With the match holding little significance, as Suryakumar Yadav’s side has already secured a place in the Super 4s, Bumrah’s breather comes as a strategic choice. Arshdeep Singh, the top wicket-taker in India’s T20I history, has been recalled into the playing XI.
India won the toss and chose to bat first. In his post-toss comments, Suryakumar Yadav revealed, “We are looking to bat first. We have not batted first in this competition and we want to know our depth. Having game time is important going into the Super 4s. We want to continue the good habits we are doing in the first two games and want to continue to do that. It is looking nice and our openers will assess it further.”
The playing XI for India and Oman is as follows:
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (w), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
Oman (Playing XI): Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh (c), Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla (w), Shah Faisal, Zikria Islam, Aryan Bisht, Mohammad Nadeem, Shakeel Ahmed, Samay Shrivastava, Jiten Ramanandi.
