The India vs UAE game saw the Blues thrashing the home side in their first Asia Cup 2025 match, chasing down a minuscule target within five overs, making it the biggest victory in the history of the competition’s T20 format by 93 balls remaining.
The India vs UAE game was Match 2 of the ACC Asia Cup 2025. The game was played in the Dubai International Stadium and saw the Men in Blue win the toss and decide to bowl first on a pitch that promised to become more batting-friendly under lights. However. By the way this match transpired, that would not have mattered much.
India vs UAE: India Thrashed UAE In Asia Cup By Record Margin
The home team in this competition actually got off to a decent start in their inning. The opening pair of Alishan Sharafu and veteran captain Muhammad Waseem gave the team a steady start. The two batters scored at a decently measured run rate for the first three overs.
But then. In the fourth over, the first strike came as Sahrafu was bowled all ends up by Jasprit Bumrah, falling victim to a peach of a yorker by the ace pacer. While the score now was 26/1, the floodgates were about to open.
The very next over, another wicket fell, this time at the hands of Varun Chakravarthy, who trapped Zohaib Khan. The ball went to backward point, where he was caught by Kuldeep Yadav.
Captain Waseem then took charge of stabilising the innings. He took the team past the power play, adding a few runs on his own. The third wicket fell in the ninth over, and this was the point where everything started falling apart. Rahul Sharma, who had been struggling on the crease for the past three or so overs, was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav off a superb delivery.
The skipper departed in the very same over, getting trapped in front of the wickets by Yadav. And yet another wicket would fall in the over, as on the last ball, Harshit Kaushik was bowled clean.
Now at 50/6 in nine overs, the UAE needed some stability, which never arrived. After just one run in the next nine deliveries, another wicket would fall as Asif Khan became Shivam Dube’s first victim. Simranjeet Singh would be caught before the wicket in the 12th over.
Dube took two more wickets in the 13th over, and Kuldeep Yadav would claim his fourth in the 14th as the UAE fell for 57 runs and bringing an end to the first inning of this India vs UAE game.
This was going to be an easy chase for India, but the way in which the Suryakumar Yadav-led men achieved this target showed that they are playing in this tournament to dominate.
While pacer Haider Ali did show some movement in the first over, Indian opener Abhishek Sharma managed to score 10 runs in the first over of the inning despite playing four dots. 15 more runs were scored in the second over as India was almost halfway through to their target in just two overs
In three overs, the score was 38 runs. But then, in the fourth over, Sharma was dismissed for 30 off 16. However, the other opener, Shubman Gill, alongside the incoming captain Yadav, managed to score 16 runs in an over with a wicket.
Just four runs required and 16 overs still remaining, the two batters reached the target on the third ball of the over with a boundary from Gill. And so, India scored 60 runs in 4.3 overs, winning the match by nine wickets.
Kuldeep Yadav, for his brilliant spell of 4/7 in just 2.1 overs, was named the Player of the Match.
This India vs UAE match has now gone down in history, as the Men in Blue’s victory is the largest margin in the history of the T20 Asia Cup in terms of balls remaining. India won this match with 93 balls remaining, while the previous record was yet another India vs UAE match, but from 2016, where India beat UAE with 59 deliveries remaining.
The Indian Cricket Team has gotten off to a fantastic start in Group A of the Asia Cup 2025. Their next match, on September 14, will be against Pakistan.
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