Pakistan have benched pacer Haris Rauf in their opening game of the Asia Cup 2025 against Oman at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The Salman Ali Agha-led side has named three spinners and two spinners in their playing XI.
Pakistan have benched pacer Haris Rauf in their opening game of the Asia Cup 2025 against Oman at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Notably, during the recently concluded Major League Cricket (MLC) edition in the USA, the 31-year-old picked up a hamstring injury. Additionally, he had previously injured his hand ahead of the Champions Trophy in February.ย
Pakistan team management arguably handed him a break ahead of the marquee match against India on September 14 in Dubai. After the injury during MLC, he represented the national team in the T20I series against West Indies and in the recent tri-series against the UAE and Afghanistan. However, even in that multi-national tournament, Rauf didnโt play all the matches. He featured only twice, which shows that Pakistan is currently managing his workload.
Another possibility is that the team wanted to play three spinners in the mix. Faheem Ashraf, who failed to impress in the tri-series, has been named in the playing XI, and Rauf will likely be making his return in his place against India. Shaheen Afridi, the other pacer in the playing XI, is likely to retain his spot.
Pakistan win toss and elect to bat
Pakistan have won the toss and elected to bat first against Oman. Captain Salman Ali Agha noted that they want to put the scoreboard pressure on Oman and thatโs the reason behind batting first in Dubai.
โWe are going to bat first. It looks like a good pitch and we want to put the scoreboard pressure. When we bat first we want to put above par totals and when bowling first we want to restrict the opposition to chaseable totals,โ Agha said.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Haris (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed
Oman: Jatinder Singh (c), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Shah Faisal, Hassnain Shah, Mohammad Nadeem, Zikria Islam, Sufyan Mehmood, Shakeel Ahmed, Samay Shrivastava