CHENNAI: It might not have been much of a contest, but as soon as India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to bowl against United Arab Emirates in their first match of the Asia Cup, the team sheet gave a glimpse of how this management wants to operate. What followed in the next couple of hours or so only added more to it as India dismissed UAE for 57 before chasing down the target with nine wickets in hand.
Contrary to what was expected and understood in the lead up to the game, Sanju Samson started in the playing XI ahead of Jitesh Sharma but was slotted to bat at No 5. If that was a googly no one anticipated, India went on to play only two seamers in Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya with Shivam Dube as an additional option. It meant Rinku Singh and Arshdeep Singh sat out with Kuldeep Yadav playing for India for the first time since the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in February.
This template of having eight batters and multiple bowling options is something that was expected from the Men in Blue. And how things panned, despite the quality of the opposition, could just be the indication of the way the pitch behaved at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday. It took just an over of Pandya to realise the need to bring on spin from one end and Yadav did just that. Bumrah continued from the other end and even delivered a pin point yorker just to remind that he is still the best all-format pacer in the world before spinners took over.
Varun Chakravarthy started with a floaty delivery to deceive Muhammad Zohaib, and Kuldeep piled on. In a single over, the wrist spinner removed Rahul Chopra, Muhammad Waseem and Harshit Kaushik — reducing UAE to 50/5 after nine overs. It was a blow UAE never really recovered from. First one was a tossed up delivery outside off, the second, much flatter, to trap Waseem before a googly that rattled the stumps. For someone who had waited several months to take the field for India, that one over might have given the confidence he needs to move forward in this tournament.
If Kuldeep, who has consistently missed out because of team combination and batting depth, coming off augurs well for the wrist spinner, the team management will take heart from the way Dube performed. Head coach Gautam Gambhir's preference for batting depth is well established and to an extent, understandable in this format. If India were to bring in an extra bowler, it would mean they have at least four tailenders in a T20I playing XI.
Which is where, Dube comes in. Despite his limited bowling over the last year or so at the highest level, the left-hander (another template of this management) was preferred ahead of Rinku. He bowled a fair bit in the lead up to the tournament and it bore fruit as the Mumbai all-rounder took three wickets. Though at least two of them were off the tail, Dube did what was asked of him. It will only give the team management confidence to retain him in the playing XI based on the combination they field against Pakistan on Sunday.
As far as batting goes, Shubman Gill opened with Abhishek Sharma as expected with skipper Suryakumar Yadav coming in at No 3. The southpaw smashed a 16-ball 30 before the other two completed the chase in 4.3 overs which was a mere formality. First box is now checked. Bigger challenge awaits.
Brief scores: UAE 57 in 13.1 ovs (Kuldeep 4/7, Dube 3/4) lost to India 60/1 in 4.3 ovs (Abhishek 30, Gill 20 n.o).
