Spinner Kuldeep Yadav picked three wickets in his second over against UAE in India’s opening game in the Asia Cup. The spin wizard rattled the UAE’s middle order with the wickets of Muhammed Wasim, Rahul Chopra and Harshit Kaushik. Opener Alishan Sharafu managed to hand a blistering start to UAE, scoring 22 runs off 17 balls. However, soon after that, things changed drastically.
Jasprit Bumrah gave the first blow, dismissing Sharafu. Soon after that, ace spinner Varun Chakaravarthy sent Muhammad Zohaib back to the pavilion. However, in the ninth over of the game, Kuldeep changed the complexion of the game. He picked up the wicket of Rahul in the first ball of the over, followed by Waseem in the fourth and Harshit in the sixth.
India win toss and elect to bowl
India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and elected to bowl first at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The decision proved brilliant for the team as the Indian bowlers ran havoc with the ball. UAE batters couldn’t establish their authority in the middle, especially against the quality Indian spinners.
After Kuldeep’s three-fer in the ninth over, India introduced Shivam Dube, and the all-rounder also ended up picking the wicket of Asif Khan. Notably, Dube barely bowled for the national team in the last couple of years and also in the IPL. However, with the UAE struggling, India had the opportunity to test him in the middle, and he eventually proved his worth. To follow that, Axar Patel sent Simranjeet Singh in the pavilion in the next over itself. As things stand, UAE are in deep trouble and may face trouble reaching the three-figure mark.
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy
United Arab Emirates (Playing XI): Muhammad Waseem (c), Alishan Sharafu, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Asif Khan, Harshit Kaushik, Haider Ali, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Rohid Khan, Junaid Siddique, Simranjeet Singh