Asia Cup: India overwhelm UAE by 9 wickets
Mirpur (Bangladesh), March 3 (Cricketnmore): India made a mockery of the United Arab Emirates' paltry total of 81/9 as they got home with nine wickets and 9.5 overs to spare in an Asia Cup Twenty20 International cricket encounter at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium here on Thursday.
Rohit Sharma scored a quickfire, 28-ball 39, while Yuvraj Singh and Shikhar Dhawan remained unconquered on 25 and 16 respectively.
India remain unbeaten in the competition and will face Bangladesh in the final on Sunday.
From the beginning, Dhawan was struggling out there in the middle and was given a lifeline by the umpire for a caught-behind appeal but his partner at the other end had no such problems. Rohit started tonking from the word go crashing the ball to all parts of the ground.
Rohit smashed rival captain Amjad Javed for 16 in the fourth over and then followed it up with 11 runs of the next.
But then he top edged one to third man trying to cut Qadeer Ahmed. Out of Dhawan-Rohit's 43-run partnership, the latter contributed 39.
Yuvraj came out like he was just out of a net-session timing the ball to perfection. He clobbered a few to the ropes including a big six over cover.
Dhawan too got into the groove later and manage to take his team over the line in the 11th over.
Earlier, India put up a superb display with the ball to restrict the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to a paltry total.
Shaiman Anwar top-scored with a 48-ball 43 for the UAE while Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned figures of 2/8 for India.
The UAE kept struggling from the start as Indian pacers Bhuvneshwar and Jasprit Bumrah kept bowling on a tight channel.
After three overs, the UAE had only a run on the board and a little later they were reduced to 2/2.
Thereafter, a few top edges and knicks went past the Indian slip fielders as the UAE managed to gather 21 runs in the powerplay with Rohan Mustafa and Anwar at the crease.
The Indian bowlers kept up the pressure and Mustafa (11) perished trying to smash Hardik Pandya. The left-hander only managed to find Virat Kohli at cover.
India tightened the leash further by chipping away two more wickets. Debutant left-arm spinner Pawan Negi picked up Muhammad Usman (9) while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh sent back rival captain Amjad Javed (0).
More wickets followed as the UAE failed to get a grip on the game. Anwar who had been silently watching his partners throw away their wickets had a go in the last few overs smashing a few to the ropes. These in turn helped his side get past 80.
Agency.