India all-rounder Hardik Pandya would consider himself extremely unlucky to get run out at the non-striker’s end against Oman in the 2025 Asia Cup on Friday (September 19) in Abu Dhabi.
It happened on the
third ball of the eighth over, and Pandya had just scored a single off his first ball. His partner, Sanju Samson, drove Jiten Ramanandi straight down the ground. The bowler tried to field off his own bowling and the ball touched the tips of his fingers to deflect to the stumps.
Pandya had backed too far out of his crease and had no chance to get back. Watch it here:
I've never seen a more unlucky cricketer than Hardik Pandya 💔 pic.twitter.com/ojDlyWyzU1
— RISHAV (@Imrishav108) September 19, 2025
It has not been Pandya’s tournament so far. He didn’t get to bat in the first two games against the UAE and Pakistan.
Against the UAE, he bowled one over, conceding 10 runs, and followed it up with figures of 1/34 in three overs against the Pakistanis.
The combination of lack of substantial chances and inability to make small moments count has kept the superstar mostly out of sight. Add to that the misfortune from Friday.
Oman fight well till the 12th over
Oman put up a good fight against India in the first half of the first innings. At the time of writing this piece, India were 125/4 in 12 overs with Sanju Samson batting at 43 (33) and Shivam Dube partnering him with 2 (2).
Shah Faisal cleaned up Shubman Gill for just five runs off eight balls. Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson built up a decent stand of 66 runs for the second wicket before Ramanandi made Sharma get caught behind for 38 (15). It was only two balls before Pandya’s wicket. All-rounder Axar Patel hit an excellent 26 off 13 but got out soon after to Aamir Kaleem, leaving Samson and Dube at the crease.
India sent Pandya at number four and Samson at three (with Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma holding back), perhaps to give them the chance to get a bit of batting practice ahead of the Super-Four stage. While the latter capitalised (with a bit of luck), the former would eed to hit the ground running in the bigger games.
