Pakistan kickstarted their Asia Cup 2025 campaign with an emphatic 93-run win over Oman on the back of Mohammad Haris’s ebullient fifty and an all-round bowling performance led by the spinners. An enjoyable 66 off 43 from Haris, coming in at one drop, and breezy late cameos led Pakistan to an above-par 160/6 on a slow and sluggish Dubai surface. Except for an expensive PowerPlay over, Oman never looked to be in control of the chase and lost wickets in clusters in the middle overs to succumb to 67 all out inside 17 overs.
An early setback after opting to bat saw Haris occupy the crease on the third ball of the game, and he helped Pakistan finish the PowerPlay with a decent strike-rate. Both teams, meanwhile, squandered a review each. A reprieve earlier to Shaibzada Farhan cost Oman 27 runs and left the bowler, Shakeel Ahmed, livid.
Once he got his eye in, Haris assaulted Oman to gallop to a 32-ball half-century. Samay Shrivastava was greeted with a six, and so was Sufiyan Mehmood as the well-set batter reached the milestone in style. Farhan played the second fiddle through this alliance of 85, making a run-a-ball 29 before handing a return catch to Kaleem, who soon picked up two more wickets. He defeated a reverse-sweeping Haris to find the poles while Pakistan skipper Salman Agha offered a dolly off a full toss to depart for a golden duck.
Haris smashes a 50 🎉| Pakistan vs Oman | DP World Asia Cup 2025 #asiacup2025 #pakvsoman #pakistancricket pic.twitter.com/Lmm9c2rt62
— Swing & Smash (@swingandsmash) September 12, 2025
Pakistan lost another wicket thereafter and the innings seemed to be heading to a quiet end but Mohammad Nawaz had other ideas. His boundary-filled 10-ball 19, complemented by a vital 23 from Fakhar Zaman, who had witnessed the collapse around him, helped Pakistan conclude the innings on a high.
Barring Kaleem’s takedown of Shaheen Afridi in the third over, Oman never got going in the tall pursuit as Pakistan managed to bowl 43 dots out of the 100 required to pack their opposition up.
