Kuldeep and Dube bowl India to facile win against UAE in Asia Cup

Excellent bowling performances by Kuldeep Yadav and Shivam Dube helped India set-up a nine-wicket victory against a hapless UAE in their opening match of the Asia Cup.

Defending Champions India threw down the gauntlet with a convincing victory ahead of their clash against arch-rivals Pakistan.

After restricting a stuttering UAE to a below par total of 57, India chased down the target for the loss of one wicket inside the first powerplay.

Abhishek Sharma smashed a blitzkrieg 16-ball 30 with the help of three sixes and as many fours and Shubman Gill remained unbeaten on 20 as Indian knocked down the winning run in 4.3 overs.

India lived up to their reputation of being the favourite as they made light work of the UAE batting.

They bundled out UAE for a paltry 57, who did not look like a pale shadow of the team which played so promisingly in the recently-concluded tri-series which also featured Afghanistan and Pakistan.

So fierce was the Indian bowling that nine out of 11 players of the UAE failed to reach the double-digit mark. Only Waseem and Sharafu got to the double-digit mark. The UAE hit only six boundaries in their entire innings.

Kuldeep and Dube did most of the damage after Bumrah found a chunk in UAE’s armour to give India the first breakthrough. Kuldeep and Dube both were doubtful in the run-up to make it to the playing XI.

Suryakumar played with six bowlers with Bumrah being the only genuine pacer and while Dube and Pandya played as all-rounders.

UAE got off to a flying start as they amassed 10 runs in the first over. Alishan Sharafu hit two consecutive boundaries off Pandya in the first over to make his intentions clear.

In the next over, Bumrah conceded only two runs off the first five balls before Waseem drove him for boundary to end the over on a positive note.

UAE were cruising nicely without losing any wickets after a promising start. Both Waseem and Sharafu were looking comfortable. Suryakumar brought Kuldeep as the first change bowler instead of sticking with Pandya.

Sharafu picked his fourth delivery and hit him over the cover for a six as UAE moved on to 25 without any loss. They were looking set to post a fighting total. But the happiness of UAE was short lived as Bumrah pulled it back for India with a superb over.

He bowled a perfect yorker, which blew away the bails as Sharafu was a little late on the shot. He could not match the pace of the delivery and failed to bring the bat down in time. Sharafu was beaten by the raw pace of Bumrah.

With the dismissal of Sharafu, Bumrah triggered the collapse as the UAE kept on losing the wickets in bulk. They failed to get the partnership, resulting in an abject surrender.

In the next over, Chakravarty got rid of Zohaib. He flighted a delivery and Zohaib sliced it to the backward point, Kuldeep took a clean catch as the UAE lost the second wicket.

Waseem hit Bumrah for a boundary on the first ball off the sixth over to ease the pressure. He hit two more fours off the last two deliveries to take 12 runs off it. The UAE reached 41/2 at the end of powerplay.

After the end of the sixth over, UAE seemed to have made a comeback into the game. But Kuldeep and Dube wreaked havoc. Kuldeep ripped through the middle-order to claim four wickets for seven runs before Dube ran riot to wrap up the lower order for his career-best figure of 3/4.

Kuldeep bowled an eventful over to break the backbone of the UAE batting line, as he dismissed three middle order batsmen in the same over to push the opponents into the quagmire.

Kuldeep invited Rahul Chopra to slog it over the cover. The batsman failed to get to the pitch of the ball and did not quite get hold of the shot as Shubman took a brilliant catch.

Two balls later, Kuldeep trapped Waseem in front of the stumps to heap more misery on the reeling UAE. But the worst was yet to come, the wily spinner did not stop there. He rattled the stumps of Harshit Kaushik to make it 50/5.

The onus of pulling the UAE out of the rot came on very reliable Asif Khan, who was left with a fragile tail. The UAE were in dire need of a big partnership. But a charged-up Indian bowling attack had a different plan.

Dube, who was playing as a part time bowler, sprang into action. Asif was under enormous pressure as he could not deliver when it mattered the most.

 He nicked a delivery, which was moving away from him, to an agile wicket-keeper Sanju Samson.  After the dismissal of Asif, no other batsmen could put any kind of resistance as the UAE seemed to have given up well before the innings got over.

Axar Patel also rode the wave, picking up the wicket of Simranjeet Singh before Dube caught Dhruv Prashar plumb in front to reduce UAE to 54/8.

Kuldeep had Haider Ali stumped by Samson to complete his four-wicket haul before Dube finished it off with the dismissal of Mohammad Rohid.