India defeated UAE by 9 wickets in their first game of the Asia Cup 2025.
India's Kuldeep Yadav picked up 4/7, and Shivam Dube took three wickets as India routed the UAE for 57 runs.
Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq criticized the UAE cricketers for their reckless play and attacking strokes, while applauding Kuldeep's cunning, which became a curse for the UAE hitters.
“They had a decent power play. They should have played from there with a decent plan, but they kept hitting shots against a bowler whom they were unable to read. They kept throwing wickets. There was no plan. This was on the cards. We said before as well that UAE batters would be able to play the pacers but not the two mystery spinners—(Varun) Chakravarthy and Kuldeep.
You can’t play Kuldeep if you can’t read him. It wasn’t a very difficult pitch. They were managing on the back foot, and there was no sharp turn, but somehow, they opted to go aerial, their main batters,” Misbah said on the TV show Game on Hai.
Shoaib Malik, the former captain of Pakistan, remembered how the 30-year-old spinner had changed over the years and how he first faced Kuldeep in the Champions League T20 competition more than ten years ago.
“First, I played him in Hyderabad, India, in the Champions League when he was playing for Kolkata Knight Riders and I was playing for a Big Bash side. That time his deliveries were slow, but he has worked on it. That time, he never bowled a slider; now he does that. His googly has more bite now; it is now pitched in between stumps.
His leg-spin is now pitched in better areas. He has evolved since then and has been performing consistently. This was against the UAE, but he does well against big teams as well and takes wickets in the middle overs,” Malik praised Kuldeep.
Abhishek Sharma starred with the bat and hammered 30 runs in 16 balls as India chased down the 58-run target in 4.3 overs. Shubman Gill made 20* in 9 balls, while Suryakumar Yadav made 7* in 2 balls. Shoaib Malik then praised Abhishek Sharma and revealed that picking and choosing the balls to play big shots was the real intent.
“First ball, he hit a six. The second ball through the covers for a four, but the third ball he defended,” Malik added. “Because it was not in his slot. As we say, when the ball is in your slot, you have to hit. That is the demand of modern-day cricket. This is called intent.
Intent doesn’t mean just whacking everything around. That’s why we see such consistency in his batting because with such high-risk cricket, he is still very successful. This is the real reason because he hits the balls that are in his slots and leaves the ones that are not in his slot,” Malik said on the show.
India will next face Pakistan on September 14 in their second Group A match of the Asia Cup 2025 on Sunday.