Childhood buddies Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill wasted no time to savour the feeling of opening together for India as the duo were in a tearing hurry to overhaul the UAE’s 57, the lowest total any team had achieved against India in T20Is.
Photo: IANS
Eight months after their last T20I appearance, defending champions India regrouped in style to open their Asia Cup 2025 campaign with a clinical nine-wicket win against the UAE at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
To put things in a nutshell, India needed mere 79 balls to first bowl UAE out, and just 27 to chase down their target. The stark difference in quality between the two sides was evident throughout the contest as the reigning world champions completed their quickest chase in the format.
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Childhood buddies Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill wasted no time to savour the feeling of opening together for India as the duo were in a tearing hurry to overhaul the UAE’s 57, the lowest total any team had achieved against India in T20Is.
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Abhishek began the onslaught with a first-ball six and followed it up with a four before Gill joined the party with a few lusty hits to help India race to 38 for no loss in three overs.
Abhishek soon reached 30 off 15 balls before falling to Junaid Siddique. Thereafter, captain Suryakumar Yadav promoted himself to No.3, and took India home comfortably with another first-ball six.
Earlier, after being put in to bat, UAE’s innings nosedived from promise to collapse. After Alishan Sharafu and Muhammed Waseem lit up the early exchanges with a handful of crisp boundaries, hopes of a competitive total flickered.
But once the openers fell, those hopes were brutally extinguished. The scoreboard spiraled from 47 for 2 to a stunning 57 all out in just 13.1 overs, as India’s bowlers turned the innings into a procession.
Kuldeep Yadav was the chief architect of the demolition, weaving his magic to claim four wickets and underline his growing stature in the shortest format. Varun Chakravarthy provided the perfect foil, Axar Patel applied the squeeze, and Shivam Dube, trusted as the third seaming option, thrived with three scalps of his own.
Jasprit Bumrah, back in T20I colours for the first time since last year’s World Cup final, chipped in too, though signs of rust were visible.
Brief Scores: UAE 57 all out (Alishan Sharafu 22, Muhammed Waseem 19; Kuldeep Yadav 4/7, Shivam Dube 3/4) lost to India 60/1 (Abhishek Sharma 30, Shubman Gill 20 not out) by 9 wickets.
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