India thrash UAE

India taught UAE a stern lesson and humbled the associate nation by nine wickets to warm-up for the final against Bangladesh on March 6, 2016

The 82-run target was never a concern for the strong Indian batting line-up, and Yuvraj Singh struck the winning boundary in the 11th over to the delight of his teammates.

India were always in control of their chase, and the 43-run opening stand burst UAE’s bubble with ruthless efficiency. Rohit Sharma smashed 39 from 28 balls, the highest score for his team.

UAE got the only wicket in this match when Qadeer Ahmed dismissed Rohit Sharma in the sixth over.

India started their chase in a blistering pace as Rohit Sharma entertained the scant Mirpur crowd with some lovely shots early.

UAE bowlers were unable to check the run-flow as anything loose was disdainfully punished by Indian openers, especially Sharma.

Earlier, India kept UAE down to only 81 with a professional display in the field during the ninth match of Asia Cup 2016 at Mirpur stadium.

Shaiman Anwar of UAE was the last man out for his team when he was run out in the 20th over after scoring more than half of his team’s total today.

Anwar scored 43 from 48 balls with three fours and six to his name.

Bhuvi struck in the last over, took his second wicket of the game by dismissing Mohammad Naveed for five runs.

UAE’s day got worse as India didn’t allow them to fight back with a partnership, and wickets fell at regular intervals.

Harbhajan Singh struck in the 14th over to put his side firmly on the driver’s seat. He sent back UAE captain Amjad Javed to the pavilion for a duck. The batsman feebly chipped his first ball to mid-wicket where Negi held on to an easy catch.

India’s debutant Negi picked up his first wicket when he removed Muhammad Usman for nine runs. Usman attempted a big swipe over mid-wicket but was held by Harbhajan at long-off.

UAE sink further…

India were calling all the shots halfway into their match against UAE as their bowlers kept up the pressure from both ends.

UAE were reeling after they lost their third wicket, that of Rohan Mustafa after he scored 11 runs. Rohan smacked a short and wide ball from Pandya straight into the lap of Kohli.

India new ball bowlers were relentless with their nagging line and length, and hardly allowed the UAE batters to free their arms.

The ball kept beating the bat and UAE batsmen couldn’t time their shots as well as they would have liked.

UAE were rocked again in the fourth over when Bumrah got the better of Mohammad Shahzad for a four ball duck. Short and outside off, leaden-footed Shahzad jabbed and got an edge to second slip.

India on top early.

UAE suffered an early blow in the third over when Bhuvi struck and sent back Patil for one. The ball stopped on the batter, and the leading edge was taken by the bowler.

UAE captain Amjad Javed won the toss and opted to bat first given the conditions at Mirpur stadium under the lights against tournament favourites India led by MS Dhoni in the ninth match of Asia Cup 2016.

This is the deadest of rubbers. India are through to the Asia Cup final. UAE have no chance of joining them.

What's more, the result of this match, no matter which way it turns out, won't even matter to the other teams in their bid for the trophy on March 6.

But for India and UAE themselves, there is still enough to play for. MS Dhoni had spoken about making a few changes. Pawan Negi, who is in the World T20 squad as well, has been given a debut.

For UAE, the brief is simple. Their bowling has raised a lot of eyebrows. Their fielding, too, is fairly decent considering they are a semi-professional team.

Batting has been their biggest let down. They looked completely out of place against Sri Lanka, then blocked themselves into a dead end against Pakistan.

Perhaps with tomorrow being their last game in the tournament, they might play with a little more freedom and pull off a first victory against a Full Member.

India

S Dhawan, RG Sharma, V Kohli, SK Raina, Yuvraj Singh, HH Pandya, MS Dhoni (Captain and Wicketkeeper), P Negi, Harbhajan Singh, B Kumar and JJ Bumrah

United Arab Emirates

Rohan Mustafa, Muhammad Kaleem, Mohammad Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Muhammad Usman, Amjad Javed (Captain), Mohammad Naveed, SP Patil (Wicketkeeper), Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Tariq and Ahmed Raza