Perth: India exposed the UAE’s weakness of not having played against top class bowling in international cricket by dismissing them for a paltry 102 in under 32 overs on a bouncy Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) wicket.
Only two UAE batsmen reached double figures with Shaiman Anwar hitting 35 and Khurram Khan 14.
India raced to victory in 18.5 overs with Rohit Sharma cracking an unbeaten 55 and Virat Kohli unconquered on 33. Together they put on 75 runs in 12.2 overs to ensure an emphatic nine-wicket victory with 187 balls to spare.
Off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin generated good bounce to return figures of 4 for 25, backed by left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and pacer Umesh Yadav with two wickets each.
UAE won the toss and elected to bat. Skipper Mohammad Tauqir’s plan to put up a good total and defend it were shattered by the tight Indian bowling.
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had also planned to bat first to give his batsmen some time in the middle.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who replaced injured Mohammad Shami, opened the bowling for India. UAE batsman Andri Berenger hit the last ball of the first over from Kumar through cover point for four.
In the second over, Yadav fired Berenger out with a bouncer, the batsman going for a pull but top edging to wicketkeeper Dhoni for a simple catch.
Fellow opener Amjad Ali committed the same mistake. He went for a hook without positioning correctly and the ball went into the gloves of Dhoni.
In the ninth over, Khurram slashed Kumar through third man for a boundary.
Ashwin, who was introduced in the 11th over of the match, struck with his second delivery. Krishna Chandran, going forward to defend, was surprised by the bounce and the delivery hit his gloves and thigh pad to fall safely into the hands of Suresh Raina at leg slip.
Swapnil Patil began in style, playing a beautiful shot past Mohit Sharma to the point boundary. He became Ashwin’s second victim with Shikhar Dhawan taking a fine catch at slips by diving to his right.
Ashwin ended Khurram’s innings too. Going for a sweep, Khurram gloved the ball into the air and Raina, moving to his right from slip, took the easy catch.
Half the side back in the pavilion for 44 runs, Shaiman, who had cracked a century in his last match against Ireland, hit Sharma for a boundary through square leg.
His partner, Rohan Mustafa, was trapped leg before for 2, before Shaiman cut Ashwin, who was virtually unplayable, for a boundary.
Amjad Javed was next in, but didn’t last for long, edging Jadeja to Raina at slip.
Mohammad Naveed lifted his first ball from Jadeja over long on for a six, but became Ashwin’s fourth victim getting clean bowled to his arm ball. Tauqir lasted five balls before being bowled by Jadeja.
Anwar, who withstood the tough attack, became the last wicket to fall when he was clean bowled to Yadav for 35. He hit six fours during his 49-ball stay at the crease. It was the lowest total by any team against India in a World Cup.
Needing to score at 3.23 runs per over, Indian openers Sharma and Dhawan went for their shots. Sharma hit pacer Naveed’s fourth delivery past cover point for a boundary. In the next over, he hit Naveed over slip for another four.
Dhawan picked up two boundaries off Naveed’s third over, while Sharma went on to hit Manjula Guruge for a six over backwards square leg.
The opening pair put on 29 runs for the first wicket in 6.3 overs before Naveed struck, Dhawan brilliantly caught by Mustafa while going for a slice shot over backward point. Mustafa leaped and plucked the ball out of the air.
Virat Kohli, who walked in to a huge ovation from the crowd, then thrashed the UAE bowling attack. He began with his favourite on drive for a boundary off Guruge while Sharma hit Naveed for three fours in one over. The pair steered their team to the target comfortably.
