74 T20Is have taken place at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and Team India has played just once at the venue. India will be taking a departure from their Dubai-heavy schedule, taking a trip towards Abu Dhabi for the first time in four years for the Oman clash on Friday.
India’s Dubai-heavy tour of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will come to a brief halt with the T20 world champions set to take a detour to Abu Dhabi for just one game in the ongoing Asia Cup. India will lock horns against the Asia Cup debutants, Oman, at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday, September 19 and surprisingly, this will only be the second-ever appearance for the Men in Blue at the venue.
Abu Dhabi has been host to 74 T20Is and India have played only once, back in 2021 during the T20 World Cup, in which the Men in Blue were knocked out from Super 12 itself and failed to make it to the semis. India had four of their matches at the Dubai International Stadium and only one in Abu Dhabi, against Afghanistan, which they won quite comfortably by 66 runs.
It was a must-win encounter for India, who were on the brink of elimination, having lost to both Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two games of the tournament and the batters took the onus on themselves to get their team across the line. Afghanistan won the toss and elected to field, and unfortunately for them, that was the only moment of joy for them on the evening.
Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma stitched a 140-run stand for the first wicket, with both of them smashing half-centuries. Hardik Pandya earned a promotion in the batting order and stroked a quickfire 35 off just 13 balls, while Rishabh Pant also did well, hitting three sixes during his unbeaten 27 off 13 as India posted a massive total of 210/2. Rahul and Rohit didn’t bulldoze their way to fifties, but they laid a platform for Pant and Pandya to attack from.
211 was always going to be a difficult target for Afghanistan to chase and Mohammed Shami and R Ashwin made it even tougher for the then-Mohammad Nabi-led side to attempt a run-chase. Only Karim Janat looked like showing some intent, scoring an unbeaten 42 off just 22 balls, but the rest of the batting order faltered. The regular wickets didn’t help Afghanistan and India finally got on board in that tournament.
India will hope for a similar result against Oman to blaze their way to the Super Fours, with all four teams decided for the next round.