MATCH REPORT
Follow UsIndia A kicked off their Emerging Asia Cup 2023 campaign on a winning note, defeating the UAE A by a handsome margin of eight wickets in Colombo. Yash Dhull’s unbeaten century raced India to a modest target of 176 with 141 balls left which speaks for the domination of the Boys in Blue in their tournament opener.
India won the toss and opted to field first in a 10 AM start at the Sinhalese Sports Club. The new ball bowlers vindicated the call right away. The right-arm seamer Harshit Rana, who showed his new ball prowess in IPL 2023 playing for Kolkata Knight Riders, struck in the first over. He dismissed Jonathan Figy for a first ball duck.
In his fourth over, Rana sent back Ansh Tandon. Both Figy and Tandon were caught down the leg-side - Figy at fine-leg while Tandon was caught brilliantly by the wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel.
At the end of the tenth over mark, UAE were 48/2. In the next five overs, they lost three wickets which broke the back of their innings. Abhishek Sharma pinned Lovepreet Bajwa in front of the wicket in his introductory over, the 11th of the innings.
It was followed by the introduction of Manav Suthar, another left-arm spinner, who snapped the wickets of Aryansh Sharma and Ali Naseer in back-to-back overs. UAE succumbed from 48/2 in 10 overs to 66/5 in 13.5 overs.
The skipper Ashwanth Valthapa and Mohammed Faraazuddin then led UAE’s recovery. The duo added 80 runs for the sixth wicket. However, they were quite slow in terms of run-scoring as the 80-run stand came off 183 deliveries. Valthapa scored 46 from 107 deliveries without any boundaries. Faraazuddin’s 35 came off 88 deliveries with the help of two fours.
Again, it was Rana to break the partnership. In the 45th over, the seamer showed quick reflexes in his follow-through, taking a sharp return catch off a powerful straight hit from Faraazudin.
Faraazudin’s departure led to a lower order collapse as UAE folded from 146/5 to a total of 175/9. Skipper Valthapa’s 46 was the highest individual score in the innings. Three of UAE’s top five players were out for a single-digit score.
For India, Rana picked 4/41 in his nine overs. The left-arm spinner Suthar had figures of 2/28 in his 10 overs.
India were largely unperturbed in their chase. They lost the openers early but Abhishek Sharma’s 19 from 14 balls had already put India ahead in the chase. His partner, Sai Sudharsan scored 8 from as many deliveries. India were 41/2 in 5.1 overs when both openers were dismissed.
That was the last moment of joy for the UAE players as Nikin Jose and the skipper Dhull carried India over the finish line. The pair added an unbeaten 138 runs for the third wicket from 128 deliveries. The 22-year old Jose was steady throughout his innings, scoring 41 off 53 deliveries.
Dhull, on the other end, started slow. He was 6 from 21 balls at one point. From thereon, as soon as the spinners, were introduced, the 20-year old picked up the scoring rate.
Against pace, Dhull scored 29 off 34 deliveries. But when the spinners were in the attack, Dhull took them on, mustering 79 runs from 50 deliveries.
Dhull’s 108 not out came from only 84 deliveries. He belted 20 fours and a six, constituting 86 runs in boundaries.
The leg-spinner, Adithya Shetty was Dhull’s favorite bowler to face today. He churned out 45 runs out of Shetty’s 22 deliveries.
Dhull finished the chase with back-to-back boundaries against the pace Muhammad Jawadullah. Completing the chase with 141 balls to spare has shot up India’s net run-rate to +3.255.
The ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023 includes the A teams from the five Asian Full Member boards - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Nepal, UAE and Oman, though are taking part with their senior sides.
However, UAE’s side is vastly different from the team that took part in the ICC Men’s World Cup Qualifiers 2023. In the Indian camp, each of the 15 players is aged 23 or younger.
India next play on Monday (July 17), facing Nepal at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
(Cover Image Credits: @BCCI on Twitter)
