India vs UAE Asia Cup | Kuldeep magic floors UAE, sets up facile win for India

The UAE would have certainly wished for that to be the case at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, for Kuldeep went on to not just play but also claim four scalps as the Muhammad Waseem-led side rolled over for 57 in 13.1 overs in a nine-wicket defeat. 

By including the 30-year-old spinner from Uttar Pradesh alongside Varun, Suryakumar Yadav and Co. chose to opt for just one specialist pacer in Bumrah and leave out Arshdeep. The paltry target was knocked off by the Men in Blue in 4.3 overs. While Abhishek Sharma pummelled a 16-ball 30 in the chase, the winning runs were hit by opening partner Shubman Gill.

The game seemed to begin encouragingly for the UAE with opener Alishan Sharafu smashing three fours and a six. Twice in the opening over, delivered by a blonde-haired Hardik, Sharafu slashed through the off-side. When Bumrah erred ever so slightly in line in the second over, he flicked towards fine leg for another four. Particularly striking was the inside-out drive over extra cover that he nailed off Axar Patel’s left-arm spin for a maximum.

It helped the UAE race to 25 for none after three overs before Bumrah sprinkled his magic touch on proceedings. In an over that began with a couple of off-cutters, the fourth delivery was a pinpoint yorker at searing velocity that clattered the base of the stumps well before the 22-year-old rookie could bring his bat down. It would have made batters far more accomplished than Sharafu look just as silly. 

Shivam Dube celebrates the dismissal of UAE batter Junaid Siddique with teammates.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Just as the Indian fans settled back into their seats, Muhammad Zohaib also made the long walk back to the dressing room. The southpaw at No. 3 skied a slider from Varun to Kuldeep at backward point.

Once Kuldeep was introduced into the attack at the end of the Powerplay, the UAE stumbled into a deeper hole. In his second over, the left-armer struck thrice. While Rahul Chopra picked out Gill at long-on with a big shot, Waseem fell leg-before wicket to a quicker delivery from Kuldeep. Next in Kuldeep’s list of victims was left-hand batter Harshit Kaushik who chopped a wrong ’un onto his stumps.

There was simply no contest thereafter. Shivam capitalised on the opportunity to get some overs under his belt and bolster his confidence, scalping Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar and Junaid Siddique with his medium-pace for figures of 2-0-4-3.

Axar, too, got into the act when he trapped fellow left-arm spinner Simranjeet Singh leg-before. Kuldeep, rather fittingly, took the final wicket of tailender Haider Ali.