Live blog - Kuldeep and Dube send UAE spiralling to 57 all out

It took India just 79 balls to bowl UAE out, and just 27 to chase down their target. UAE’s 57 was the lowest total any team had achieved against India in T20Is. And India’s 4.3-over chase was their quickest in T20Is. You couldn't have come up with a more dominant way for India to begin their Asia Cup campaign.

We would have loved to watch a closer contest, but hey, we got to watch T20 cricket of exceptional quality from India. Our stats team is going to have a field day - watch out for their post-match piece. But for now, it's time for me to go and work on my post-match report. Bye!

Abhishek was taking on every single ball, and had got to 30 off 15 balls. Then he gets a good ball from Junaid Siddique that he can't quite hit cleanly: it's a nice hard length, which denies Abhishek the ability to hit it cleanly with either a vertical or horizontal bat. Goes hard with a diagonal bat and slices it high in the air and is caught in the wide mid-on region. India only need nine more to win, though.

And SKY makes it three to win with his first ball, stepping across and whipping Siddique off his hip for a trademark six over backward square leg.

They've been fast friends since the Under-14 level, and you'd think they'd want to take a bit of time savouring the feeling of opening together for India. Not a bit of it. India have raced to 38 for no loss in three overs.

Some extraordinary shots already. To pick two, Gill stepping out and flicking Mohammad Rohid over square leg for six, and Abhishek, making room, falling away, and flat-batting a short-of-length ball from the offspinner Dhruv Parashar over long-off for six. Parashar had kept Abhishek quiet for four balls, firing the ball into the pitch from round the wicket and denying him room, and then he manufactured that six and followed up with a one-bounce four off the next ball.

Innings UAE 57 (Sharafu 22, Kuldeep 4-7, Dube 3-4) vs India

India began their Asia Cup title defence by making short work of UAE’s batting, bowling the hosts out for 57 in just 13.1 overs. UAE came into this match on the back of encouraging displays against Pakistan and Afghanistan in the tri-series they recently hosted, but all that promise came to nothing against the relentless quality of India’s bowling.

UAE began well enough, all things considered, scoring 41 for 2 in their powerplay with openers Alishan Sharafu and Muhammad Waseem hitting six fours and a six between them. They fell apart thereafter, losing their last eight wickets for the addition of just ten runs.

Jasprit Bumrah - India’s only specialist quick - and Varun Chakravarthy took the first two wickets, but the bulk of the damage thereafter came courtesy two bowlers who had looked less than certain to play in the lead-up to this match. Kuldeep Yadav picked up 4 for 7, including three wickets in his second over, and Shivam Dube ran through the lower order to bag 3 for 4, his best T20I figures.

To their credit, UAE did not let the loss of two powerplay wickets curb their intent, but on this day they kept losing wickets to low-percentage shots. Rahul Chopra took on the large outfield at the Dubai International Stadium and the protected long-on boundary and holed out off Kuldeep. Waseem followed him to the dressing room three balls later, missing a sweep against a bowler whose stock ball, straightening into the right-hander from left-arm over, is stump-to-stump by design. Kuldeep finished the over with a trademark wrong’un to bowl the left-handed Harshit Kaushik through the gate, and UAE were already five down.

India used six bowlers, and five of them ended up on the wickets column, with Bumrah - who bowled three overs in the powerplay, a rarity for him - Varun and Axar Patel taking one each. Dube, playing ahead of a second frontline quick to give India batting depth until No. 8, couldn’t help but take wickets with his medium-pace, even when India gave them back. No. 10 Junaid Siddique was given out stumped when Sanju Samson caught him wandering out of his crease, a la Jonny Bairstow, but India withdrew their appeal. Next ball, Junaid swung at a slower ball and skewed it to India captain Suryakumar Yadav, the man who had made that call.

Remember all the controversy that erupted when India concussion-subbed Dube with Harshit Rana?

Well, since that match, Dube has played two T20Is, bowled - up to this point - 3.1 overs, and taken four wickets. Take that, anyone who doubted his bowling chops.

Dhruv Parashar pushes down the wrong line of one that nips in from a fuller-than-good length, and he's struck plumb in front. Wastes a review too. UAE are 54 for 8 in 12.1 overs.

Make that five wickets in 3.3 overs, because Junaid Siddique does a Jonny Bairstow, and kind of wanders (marginally in his case) out of his crease after swinging at a short ball down the leg side and missing. Samson underarms into the stumps, and he's given out stumped, but India withdraw their appeal, which - allow me to catch my breath, people! - I don't know what to think about. Junaid argues that he was distracted by Dube's towel falling out of his waistband in his follow-through, and India allow him to bat on.

All that magnanimity, and Junaid is out off the next legal ball, miscuing a slower ball high in the air, to SKY running back from short midwicket towards mid-on. So it's five wickets in 3.4 overs for Dube. UAE are 55 for 9 in 12.4.

India have used six bowlers, and five of them have got on the wickets column. It's Axar Patel's turn now, a textbook dismissal of a left-hand batter. Axar is a really hard bowler to sweep because he's so quick and he attacks the stumps so much. Simranjeet Singh takes on the shot, and he's clearly struggling because he's barely able to get down fully on his knee to play it. He misses, and it smacks his front pad. It just looks out, and it's given out instantly, but he's reviewed just in case. Aha, there was a chance bounce could have saved him, because it ends up as umpire's call, with the ball-tracking projection showing the ball flicking the outside of the leg bail.

UAE are 52 for 7 in 11.2 overs.

India's sixth bowler, Shivam Dube, strikes with his third ball. Back of a length, maybe a bit of gentle nibble away, and Asif Khan, looking to guide it down to third, edges to the diving Samson behind the stumps. UAE are 51 for 6 in 10.3 overs.

In the space of three balls, Asif Khan and Dhruv Parashar survive huge lbw shouts against Varun Chakravarthy's wrong'un in the 10th over. The first one isn't given out on the field, and India burn a review (missing leg). The second is given out, and Parashar reviews successfully (inside edge). UAE are 51 for 5 at the halfway mark.

The pressure of two boundary-free overs immediately post-powerplay tells on UAE. Rahul Chopra is still pretty new to the crease, and he's working against the percentages here: big boundaries, there's a man at long-on, and he's taking on Kuldeep when he dangles this one slow, asking him to manufacture all the power. Can't clear the fielder, and UAE are 47 for 3 in 8.1 overs.

Three balls later, Kuldeep gets another. And this is a wicket that shows the difficulty of trying to go after him. As a left-arm wristspinner bowling from over the wicket, he's almost always pitching his stock ball in line of the stumps and straightening it towards the stumps. This is a good length, bowled pretty flat and quick by his standards, and Waseem, as well as he's been batting, is taking a big risk trying to sweep him. He misses, gets hit on the pad, and all the remained to be asked was whether the ball pitched in line with the stumps. It did.

And then, he finishes the over with two balls that could both have dismissed Harshit Kaushik. He likes to bowl his wrong'un first up to left-hand batters to see if they're picking him (remember the one to Rachin Ravindra in the Champions Trophy final?). Kaushik doesn't pick his first one, and he's lucky to inside edge it past his stumps. Kuldeep bowls another wrong'un next ball, and this time Kaushik can't get any bat on it, even though he's defending rather than driving on this occasion. Bowled through the gate by a beaut.

UAE are 50 for 5, Kuldeep has 3 for 7 in two overs, and this is some return to international cricket after spending all of the England tour on the bench.

This is good stuff from the UAE captain. He knows his team can't afford to get bogged down, and he wants to keep playing the ball and not the man. Not the best over from Bumrah to finish the powerplay, but Waseem is alert to pounce on marginal errors, even off slower balls, and picks up three fours. UAE end the powerplay at 41 for 2.

Namooh Shah from our stats team tells us that the last time Bumrah bowled three overs inside the powerplay was back in 2019. That's, like, 1 BC (Before Covid).

On one hand, it can seem like India aren't playing a lot of specialist bowlers. On the other hand, the three frontliners they have are among the most cutting-edge wicket-takers in the game. It's Varun Chakravarthy's turn to get on the wickets column now. Comes on in the fifth over, and the left-handed Mohammad Zohaib manages to swat him away for an unconvincing double over mid-on. He tries again next ball, but this time it's the wrong'un, maybe bowled a touch slower too, and the ball skews off the edge, in the opposite direction to the one intended, and the backpedalling Kuldeep Yadav takes a good catch at backward point.

UAE end the fifth over at 29 for 2, and India, interestingly, keep Bumrah going. Third over for him in the powerplay.

India have their first wicket, and it comes via the perfect yorker from Jasprit Bumrah. Angling in wickedly, cramping Sharafu for room, beating him for pace as he tries to jam down on it, pitching just behind the crease and crashing into off stump. UAE are 26 for 1 in 3.4 overs.

Muhammad Waseem has faced two balls in the first three overs and taken two singles. Alishan Sharafu has faced the other 16 balls, and it's been a bit hit-or-miss from him so far, with a lot of dots but also some eyecatching boundaries: none better than a flat six over the covers in the third over, off Axar Patel. Just made room and slapped him away with stunning timing.

UAE are 25 for no loss in three overs. India have so far bowled Hardik-Bumrah-Axar.

Toss India chose to bowl vs UAE

India won their first toss in 16 attempts across formats, and chose to bowl first in their Asia Cup opener against UAE. Suryakumar Yadav, the India captain, felt there was a chance of dew later in the match on a humid evening in Dubai.

Muhammad Waseem, the UAE captain, said he would have preferred to bowl first too, and expected a bit of early help for the seamers.

India sprang a few surprises with their selection. They retained Sanju Samson as wicketkeeper, despite the return of Shubman Gill to the top of the order displacing him into a middle-order role more familiar to Jitesh Sharma. They also picked both their wristspinners in Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav.

This left the issue of whether they would prioritise depth in their batting or their seam attack. They went with the former, picking the allrounder Shivam Dube rather than a second frontline quick in Arshdeep Singh or Harshit Rana. Jasprit Bumrah starts as the only specialist quick, with Hardik Pandya expected to partner him with the new ball.

UAE made one change to the XI that played their last match, the four-wicket loss to Afghanistan in the recent home tri-series, bringing in the offspin-bowling allrounder Dhruv Parashar for the legspinner Muhammad Farooq

India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.

UAE: 1 Muhammad Zohaib, 2 Muhammad Waseem (capt), 3 Asif Khan, 4 Alishan Sharafu, 5 Rahul Chopra (wk), 6 Dhruv Parashar, 7 Harshit Kaushik, 8 Haider Ali, 9 Muhammad Rohid, 10 Junaid Siddique, 11 Simranjeet Singh.

As per our man Shashank Kishore, who's keeping a close eye on India's warm-ups in Dubai, it doesn't feel like Kuldeep Yadav's going to play today. We'll wait and see, but it's quite something to be as good as Kuldeep is and have to fight so hard to get into the XI across formats. It also tells you how good Varun Chakravarthy has been since his India comeback, and how much of a problem India's lack of genuine bowlers with some sort of batting ability is. We'll be keeping a close eye on how they deal with the No. 8 issue right through this tournament.