ABU DHABI: World champions India overcame a gutsy Oman team to win the last group match of the Asia Cup by 21 runs on Friday and stay unbeaten in the T20 tournament.
India had already qualified for the Super Four stage and posted 188-8 after they elected to bat first at Abu Dhabi.
Oman — ranked 20th in world T20 rankings — put up a spirited batting show and finished on 167-4 after top knocks from Aamir Kaleem, who made 64, and Hammad Mirza, who hit 51.
The left-right batting pair of Kaleem and Mirza put on 93 runs for the second wicket and attempted to pull off the chase with some late boundaries that gave India the scare.
Hardik Pandya broke the stand with a stunning outfield catch to dismiss Kaleem off Harshit Rana and then sent back Mirza with his pace bowling in the next over.
Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh snared the fourth wicket of the innings and his 100th in T20 internationals — the first Indian bowler to reach the century mark.
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson top-scored with 56 and his second-wicket partnership with explosive opener Abhishek Sharma, who made 38 off 14 balls, lay the platform for India’s total.
Oman struck regular blows in their first meeting with the reigning T20 World Cup winners.
Shah Faisal, fellow left-arm quick Jiten Ramanandi and left-arm spinner Kaleem took two wickets reach.
India and Pakistan moved into the Super Four from Group A and face each again on Sunday, a week after India’s players refused to shake hands with their neighbors after victory in a group match.
Sri Lanka clash with Bangladesh in the first match of the Super Four on Saturday after the two teams made the next stage from Group B.
India beat valiant Oman in Asia Cup T20
India beat valiant Oman in Asia Cup T20
Olympic favorite Malinin pulls off stunning GP Final win
- Short program winner Yuma Kagiyama finished second overall on 302.41
- Malinin becomes the first skater to land seven quads in competition and will head to the Milan-Cortina Games in February as clear favorite in his Olympic debut
NAGOYA: Ilia Malinin showed why he is red-hot favorite for Olympic gold by winning the Grand Prix Final with a world-record free skate score after landing an incredible seven quads.
The American “Quad God” lived up to his nickname, coming from third place after a disappointing short program to claim the title in Nagoya with an emphatic 332.29 points.
Short program winner Yuma Kagiyama finished second overall on 302.41, followed by Japanese countryman Shun Sato on 292.08.
Malinin becomes the first skater to land seven quads in competition and will head to the Milan-Cortina Games in February as clear favorite in his Olympic debut.
“It gives me a lot of confidence that I’m able to go out there and get this done,” said the 21-year-old.
“I know that right now I wasn’t at 100 percent, so being able to do this at what energy and what percent I am now gives me a lot of confidence for the future.
“I will take the next few months leading up to the Olympics trying to perfect everything,” he added.
Malinin botched his signature quad axel in his short program when he unleashed it for the first time this season on Thursday.
He nailed the ultra-risky move in style in his free skate and kept the fireworks going for the rest of his routine.
His free skate score of 238.24 was almost 10 points more than his old world record, set in his previous competition at Skate Canada last month.
Malinin said he was “thinking of trying to water it down to play it safe but then I remembered why I came to the Grand Prix Final.”
“I decided that I wanted to go full out and give myself a foundation of what it would look like,” he said.
“I’m really satisfied with my performance and I know that I’m able to get these jumps under pressure.”
Kagiyama, the 2022 Beijing Olympics silver medallist, had a job on his hands to beat Malinin even with his short program lead.
He made mistakes toward the end of his routine and placed fourth in the free skate.
- Chock, Bates win ice dance -
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States won the ice dance title.
The husband-and-wife team claimed the Grand Prix Final title for the third straight year, racking up 220.42 points to finish ahead of France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron on 214.25.
Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were third on 208.81.
“It feels like a sprint to get to the Grand Prix Final and then all of a sudden you have a month or two before we’ll meet again in Milan,” said Bates.
“It really is the first half of the season and then there’s a lot of progress that can be made in the next few months, which is something that we’re looking forward to.”
