India defeat UAE by 9 wickets

DHAKA: India enjoyed an easy victory ahead of the Asia Cup final defeating the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by nine wickets in a dead rubber Asia Cup T20 match at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on Thursday.

The bowlers paved the way to the easy victory, restricting UAE to 81-9 in 20 overs.

India took 10.1 overs to win the match with 82-1, and seal its fourth straight victory in the tournament. The Indians meet host Bangladesh in the final on Sunday.

Opener Rohit Sharma hit 39 while Yuvraj Singh was 25 not out and hit the winning boundary. Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the way for India with 2-8.

Shaiman Anwar scored 43 after UAE captain Amjad Javed elected to bat first. Opener Rohan Mustafa, on 11, was the only other batsman to reach double digits.

Kumar was backed by Jasprit Bumrah, pacer Hardik Pandya and spin trio Pawan Negi, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh, who all picked up one wicket.

Kumar delivered two straight maiden overs and reaped rewards for creating pressure which resulted in the wicket of opener Swapnil Patil for a duck.

Bumrah claimed Mohammad Shahzad for a duck, too, and UAE was 2-2.

India bowlers then made regular breakthrough amid the resistance of Anwar, who hit three fours and one six in his 48-ball knock.

Sharma took care of the chase by his aggressive batting. He smashed seven fours and a six in 28 balls, and was the only wicket to fall, taken by Qadeer Ahmed.

Out-of-form opener Shikhar Dhawan struggled again, while Yuvraj Singh, promoted to number 3 ahead of Virat Kohli, continued to batter the bowlers. He hit one six and four fours, the last of which confirmed India's victory with 59 balls to spare.

Before the game, all in attendance observed a minute of silence in honor of New Zealand great Martin Crowe, who died of cancer earlier in the day. Crowe's older brother, Jeff Crowe, was the match referee.