NEW DELHI: Captain Suryakumar Yadav made full use of his resources as India secured a 21-run win over a spirited Oman, finishing the Asia Cup league stage with three victories from three matches.

With less than 48 hours before the Super 4 clash against Pakistan in Dubai, Suryakumar wisely allowed his other 10 teammates to spend time at the crease, pushing himself down to number 11.

India had set a challenging target of 189 for Oman, who were facing the T20 World Champions for the first time.

Even without Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy, the Indian bowling unit managed to keep Oman under control in the final overs, restricting them to 167/4 in their 20 overs.

In the batting department, Sanju Samson top-scored with a well-made 56, while Axar Patel (26 off 13 balls) and opener Abhishek Sharma (38 off 15 balls) followed the team's aggressive template, scoring at a strike rate of over 200. Tilak Varma (29 off 18 balls) also contributed well, despite batting in an unfamiliar No. 7 position.

However, Hardik Pandya (1), who needed some time at the crease, was unfortunately run out by his former Baroda club teammate Jiten Ramanandi, and vice-captain Shubman Gill (5 off 8 balls) had a brief and slightly scratchy innings.

In bowling too, Surya had the luxury of using as many as eight bowling options to keep everyone match-ready knowing that 189 would always be tall-order for Oman.

The two replacements in the playing eleven -- Harshit Rana (1/25 in 3 overs) and Arshdeep Singh (1/37) -- looked woefully short of game time even though both had played North Zone's only Duleep Trophy game this season.

Kuldeep Yadav (1/23 in 3 overs) as usual was cut above the rest. Arshdeep, who is unlikely to play against Pakistan, got a chance to complete 100 wickets, making him the first Indian to reach that milestone.

For Oman, skipper Jatinder Singh (32 of 33 balls), fellow opener Aamir Kaleem (64 off 46 balls) and Hammad Mirza (51 off 34 balls) did put up a gutsy fight but it was not enough to script a famous win.

But looking at the bigger picture, it gave Surya an idea of what to expect from his resources come business end of the tournament.

The biggest gainer was Samson, who helped himself to some runs although there is no guarantee that he would bat No.3 when Pakistan comes calling.

Scratchy batting effort

With vice-captain Gill getting out cheaply, the one drop slot warranted a right hander and accordingly Samson got a chance to bat in the top 3.

It wasn't the smoothest of his innings on a slightly slowish track but three fours and three sixes off 45 balls would certainly give him confidence ahead of the business week.

Of all his big hits, the first maximum off left-arm seamer Shah Faisal, a pick-up shot over widish long-on stood out but lack of match time showed as he did struggle to get going.

It was pretty obvious that India would like to bat first and make full use of the 20 overs before the start of the Super 4s giving sufficient time to their under-utilized middle-order ahead of Pakistan game on Sunday.

The batting order was rightly shuffled giving Samson his favourite slot, promoting all-rounders Axar and Pandya ahead of specialist left-hander Tilak or batting all-rounder Shivam Dube (5).

(With PTI Inputs)