Abhishek Sharma created history by becoming the fourth Indian cricketer to hit a six in the opening ball of a T20I innings. Meanwhile, courtesy of an phenomenal bowling performance, India beat UAE by nine wickets in their opening game of the Asia Cup 2025.
In India’s opening Asia Cup match against the UAE, opener Abhishek Sharma delivered a stellar performance, giving the team a perfect start. After bowling out the hosts for just 57 runs, India’s chase was led by Abhishek and Shubman Gill, who impressed with their explosive batting.
Abhishek made a memorable entrance by hitting a six off the very first ball he faced, becoming only the fourth Indian cricketer to start a T20I innings with a six. He joined the elite company of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Sanju Samson.
India win by nine wickets
Abhishek smacked 30 runs off just 16 balls in the match, while Gill remained unbeaten for 20 runs off nine balls. Even though the batters who finished things off in the end, it was the bowlers who won the game for India. It was particularly Kuldeep Yadav, who stole the show, picking up four wickets for just seven runs in 2.1 balls.
Shivam Dube, who barely bowled in international cricket, proved his mettle as well. The all-rounder clinched three wickets in just two overs and conceded just four runs. On the other hand, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel picked up one wicket each.
Notably, the UAE’s openers managed a blistering start, particularly Alishan Sharafu, who made 22 runs. Apart from him, only captain Muhammad Waseem scored in double digits. Apart from that, no other UAE batters even managed to score four runs in the middle.
The Indian spinners dominated the middle overs, and the UAE had no answer to that. Next up, they will challenge Pakistan and ahead of that, a dominating win will give the team plenty of confidence.
India vs UAE playing XI:
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy
United Arab Emirates (Playing XI): Muhammad Waseem (c), Alishan Sharafu, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Asif Khan, Harshit Kaushik, Haider Ali, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Rohid Khan, Junaid Siddique, Simranjeet Singh
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