Dubai: Kuldeep Yadav and Shivam Dube starred with the ball as India bundled out United Arab Emirates (UAE) for just 57 in their opening match of the 2025 Men’s T20 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

UAE had made a promising start, reaching 47/2 in eight overs, with opener Muhammad Waseem and Alishan Sharafu finding early boundaries. But once Kuldeep came in, UAE lost their next eight wickets for just 10 runs in a dramatic collapse, with their 57 in 13.1 overs being the lowest men’s T20I score for a team playing against India.

On his return to the T20I team, Kuldeep led the charge with a four-wicket haul, showing his absolute mastery. Dube, operating as India’s third seam bowling option, chipped in with three wickets to derail UAE’s innings. India will be aiming to chase 58 in quick time and give themselves a huge NRR boost.

After India pushed UAE into batting first, Alishan Sharafu got two thick edged boundaries off Hardik Pandya in the opening over, before clipping Jasprit Bumrah for four and lofting inside-out against Axar Patel for a beautifully timed six. His fun ended at 22 when Bumrah castled him by flattening his off-stump with a pitch perfect yorker.

Varun Chakaravarthy struck when Muhammad Zohaib slogged off his googly, but the thick outside edge was caught by backward point. Muhammad Waseem was quick to pounce on errors from Bumrah by driving, cutting and flicking him to pick three fours in the final over of power-play, as UAE signed off with 41/2.

But the pressure of two overs with no boundaries on UAE meant Kuldeep made merry. On his flighted delivery, Rahul Chopra couldn’t get the timing right and holed out to long-on. Against Waseem, Kuldeep got one to straighten after pitching and trapped him lbw on sweep. The standout dismissal of Kuldeep’s spell came when his googly castled Harshit Kaushik through the gate.

With pressure firmly on UAE, Asif Khan and Dhruv Parashar survived huge lbw shouts against Chakaravarthy on review. But Dube took out Asif when the batter nicked slightly away from the body and was caught behind by Sanju Samson going low to his right to complete the catch.

Axar joined the wicket-taker’s list by trapping Simranjeet Singh lbw with a flighted delivery gripping and turning as well, while Dube added another scalp by jagging one back in to dismiss Dhruv Parashar in the same fashion. After Junaid Siddique skied one to mid-wicket off Dube, Kuldeep ended UAE’s misery by having Haider Ali caught behind to end with a four-fer.

Brief Scores: UAE 57 in 13.1 overs (Alishan Sharafu 22, Muhammad Waseem 19; Kuldeep Yadav 4-7, Shivam Dube 3-4) against India

(IANS)