Former India player Wasim Jaffer was unhappy with the poor bowling display as the Indian team managed a 21-run win against Oman at the Asia Cup 2025 in Abu Dhabi on Friday, September 18. His comments came after India managed to bag only four wickets as Oman posted 167/4 in response to 188, with Aamir Kaleem (64 runs off 46 balls) and Hammad Mirza (51 off 33 deliveries) scoring fifties as well.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Jaffer said in the post-match show: “(Bowling performance) I thought it was an ordinary effort without a doubt. Even though the main bowlers didn’t bowl the full quota of overs, Kuldeep didn’t finish his overs. And I think obviously Varun wasn’t playing. They tried Tilak, they tried Abhishek. You know, Shivam generally doesn’t bowl three overs. Axar only bowled one over. So, you could understand that they were trying a few things… Saying that, still I feel it was a below-par performance.”

“That generally happens (take foot off the pedal). I believe that when you play associate teams, you are already in the Super 4. You could understand with the kind of batting order that the Indians sent out. So, intensity is always gonna drop down. So, I won’t read too much into it, but that’s what happens. I mean, come Sunday, the Indian team will be at their best, I am sure,” he further added.

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However, Wasim Jaffer applauded Team India’s left-hand and right-hand batting combination. The veteran also credited the Indian team for their flexible batting order as well.

“(On Left-hand, right-hand combination) I mean, India has got that flexibility, to be honest, because India has got so many left-handers also. So, there will be times when Abhishek Sharma is probably batting for a longer period, and Shubman has got out or Surya has got out, and Tilak, you know, you don’t want to send Tilak there. So, there is a chance that you might send Sanju Samson, or vice versa,” he stated.

“I mean, two left-handers, so you might send somebody else. Two right-handers are there, India has got plenty of left-handers like we said, there’s Axar, Dube, Tilak. So, I mean, to slot somebody at a fixed place is not going to be easy in T20 cricket. You need to be very flexible, you know, barring certain players -1,2,3. But after that, I mean, it depends on the situation and the batters need to be fluent to go at any time and get the job done,” Wasim Jaffer concluded.