INDIA kickstarted their Asia Cup title defence in emphatic fashion by hammering UAE in Dubai on Wednesday. In a game that didn’t even last 20 overs in total, India picked up a nine-wicket win after their bowlers set it up by dismantling UAE for just 57.

With India opting for only Jasprit Bumrah as their lone frontline pacer, Hardik Pandya opened the bowling and conceded a couple of boundaries to Alishan Sharafu. The opener looked in pretty good touch as he also found another boundary off Bumrah before taking on Axar Patel over cover for a six.

But Bumrah eventually had the last laugh as he delivered a pin-point yorker to breach Sharafu’s defence. Muhammad Zohaib then had a wild slog at Varun Chakaravarthy and mistimed it to get caught, which put UAE in further trouble. Their talisman Muhammad Waseem though gave them hope after finding the boundary thrice off a Bumrah over to round off the powerplay.
A score of 41/2 with their best batter still at the crease didn’t look that bad for UAE given they started this contest as the underdogs. However, what followed suit was a horror show as their batting unit just caved in without a fight. And it was Kuldeep who kickstarted the slide with a three-wicket over.

On expected lines, this quickly turned into one of the most lopsided games in the competition’s history as India hardly broke a sweat in the run chase. Abhishek Sharma got the chase off in cracking style by depositing the first ball over long off for a six and followed it up with a four. While Haider Ali managed to follow that up with four dots, Abhishek’s new opening partner Shubman Gill picked up a four and a six in the following over. With India already knocking off 25 runs from the first two overs, it was quite evident that this chase wouldn’t go beyond the powerplay.

Eventually, it didn’t even have to go into the sixth over as Abhishek dealt in sixes to draw India closer. Even though he perished in his attempt to close out the game inside four overs, Suryakumar Yadav walked in and slammed his first ball for a six before Gill put an end to UAE’s misery.

With their title defence off to a flying start, India will face a much sterner challenge next up in their marquee clash against Pakistan on Sunday. A day later, UAE will be locking horns against a familiar opponent in Oman in what would be their best chance of fetching a win in the competition. (Cricbuzz)