India and UAE will face each other in the second game of the Asia Cup at Dubai.
Match Preview:
A month and five days have passed since cricket’s most profitable banner was raised. India rarely takes such a long vacation from playing cricket internationally. With a tournament that, to the cynical mind, exists so that other Asian boards can profit from India’s economic might and subsequently back the BCCI in the boardroom, they resume international cricket. The chance it provides for some of the smaller teams to play against major opponents should not be undervalued, though.
similar to India’s first opponents, the United Arab Emirates, who have participated in a complete T20I tri-series since India’s last international cricket match. Despite losing every match in the tournament, they had a chance to upset Afghanistan. Before playing the world’s best team in a year when their hopes of winning a bilateral series against Bangladesh were dashed by two losses to Uganda in ten days in the Pearl of Africa series, they needed this kind of challenging cricket.
Don’t be misled; they are facing the current T20 World Champions, who have improved since that season and are the only team to have won every game in a T20 World Cup. India’s lack of a specialist bowler capable of hitting sixes may be a minor weakness, but their unique bowling and powerful batting make them serious contenders to become the greatest T20 empire ever.
The UAE coach Lalchand Rajput, who led India to their first T20 World Cup campaign when the game’s biggest stars weren’t even serious about the format, is the best person to understand the powerhouse that India has become. It would be the biggest upset of the year if Rajput and captain Muhammad Waseem could orchestrate a victory over India.
That is not to say that, on paper, this is an even contest. India has more financial and human resources than the United Arab Emirates, but a team playing at home, where their players have played against the best in the world in the ILT20, will feel confident that they can at least make India sweat. Even in Dubai, stranger things have happened in cricket.
Probable Playing XI:
India (possible): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshit Rana, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
UAE (possible): 1 Muhammad Waseem (capt), 2 Alishan Sharafu, 3 Rahul Chopra (wk), 4 Asif Khan, 5 Muhammad Farooq, 6 Harshit Kaushik, 7 Muhammad Zohaib, 8 Muhammad Jawadullah/Saghir Khan, 9 Haider Ali, 10 Junaid Siddique, 11 Muhammad Rohid
Pitch an weather report:
The field has some grass. Since the country’s cricket season has just begun, pacers can anticipate having more influence than they did at the Champions Trophy earlier this year, when India fielded up to four spinners on deteriorated fields. However, the forecast is much less forgiving, calling for “excessive heat” and a high of 42 degrees. Both the players and the fans should be put to the test because the temperature is still expected to be around 36 degrees during the game.
Head-to-head record:
This is only the second time India and UAE will meet in T20Is. The first occurred during the 2016 Asia Cup, when India easily defeated the UAE in 10.1 overs after they stumbled to 81/9.
Predictions:
India is favourite to win.
Where to Watch:
India: Sony Liv app and website (sonyliv.com).
Pakistan: Tamasha and Myco
Sri Lanka: Dialog ViU app
Bangladesh: Toffee and Tapmad.
UAE and Mena region: StarzPlay
Afghanistan: Toffee app and websites
