As the Asia Cup 2025 heads towards its business end, India are gearing up to take on Oman on Friday at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, in what is officially a ‘dead rubber’ on paper. With both sides’ fates already sealed — India having secured qualification to the Super Four, and Oman eliminated from the tournament—this game doesn't carry much significance. However, both teams come into this match with contrasting motives, making it far from a meaningless game.

India have looked clinical in their group performances so far. Their top-order has clicked, and the bowling unit has shown promising signs. With the Super Four stage around the corner, this match against Oman presents the perfect opportunity for the Indian side to iron out any chinks in their armour.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Suryakumar Yadav will likely use this fixture to possibly rotate key players to manage workload. It also opens the door for players who so far haven't played any game in the tournament to get valuable game time. The match is also a chance for India's reliable players to find rhythm ahead of the Super Four stage. Additionally, this fixture is less about the opposition and more about preparation.

On the other hand, Oman, who are out of the tournament, will see this match against India as an opportunity to gain experience. A strong performance against India would be a morale booster for Oman. Led by Jatinder Singh, Oman will look to challenge India with disciplined bowling and fearless batting.

Head-to-head

India and Oman will be playing against each other for the first time in T20I cricket.

India probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy

Oman probable XI: Jatinder Singh (c), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Wasim Ali, Aryan Bisht, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Jiten Ramamnandi, Shah Faisal, Shakeel Ahmed, Hassnain Shah, Samay Shrivastava