Asia Cup 2025: 5 Key Talking Points from India’s 9-Wicket Win over UAE in Opener

India kicked off their Asia Cup 2025 campaign with a dominant nine-wicket win over the UAE. Kuldeep Yadav and Shivam Dube starred with the ball, before Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill’s explosive batting sealed the chase in quick time

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India kick off Asia Cup 2025 campaign with dominant win

Team India began their quest for the Asia Cup title defence with a commanding nine-wicket win over the UAE in their opening match of the tournament at the Dubai International Stadium on September 10.

With a target of 58, the Men in Blue chased it down in just 4.3 overs. Abhishek Sharma played a brilliant innings of 30 off 16 balls, while Shubman Gill scored a quickfire, unbeaten knock of 20 off 9 balls at a strike rate of 222.77. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav remained unbeaten on 7 off 2 balls, including a first-ball six.

As India dominated the UAE in a one-sided match, let’s take a look at the key talking points from the Men in Blue’s commanding victory in the opening match of their Asia Cup 2025 campaign.

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1. Sanju Samson gets picked in the playing XI

Before the beginning of India’s opening match against the UAE, one of the talking points was the selection of Sanju Samson as wicketkeeper-batter in the Men in Blue’s playing XI. There was uncertainty looming over Samson’s place in the team due to the return of Shubman Gill to the T20I setup after a year as vice-captain. Reports suggested that Samson had fewer batting sessions in the nets compared to Jitesh Sharma, raising the possibility of the latter being picked for India’s Asia Cup 2025 opener.

All the speculations were put to rest when Samson was slotted at No.5 in the batting line-up, demoting from the opener’s slot, wherein he batted at in the last three T20I series against Bangladesh, South Africa, and England. Samson might not have gotten a chance to bat, but he took a brilliant catch to dismiss Asif Khan off Shivam Dube’s delivery.

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2. Kuldeep Yadav’s magical spell

India’s leg spinner Kuldeep Yadav made a brilliant comeback to the T20I after over a year in the UAE opener. The 30-year-old picked up four wickets to bundle out the UAE for a mere 5, the second-lowest total in the history of the Asia Cup T20. In the second over of his spell, Kuldeep picked three wickets to reduce the UAE from 47/3 to 51/6 by dismissing Rahul Chopra (2), skipper Muhammad Waseem (19), and Harshit Kaushik (2).

Yadav picked the final wicket of the hosts by dismissing Haider Ali for 1 to register the figures of 4/7 at an economy rate of 3.20 in 2.1 overs. With his four-wicket haul, Kuldeep Yadav overtook Ravichandran Ashwin’s tally of 72 wickets to become the sixth-highest wicket-taker for India in T20Is.

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3. Shivam Dube’s impactful bowling

Apart from Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Dube played a crucial role with the ball to bundle out the UAE for their lowest T20I score. Dube was brought into the attack in the 11th over of India’s bowling when the hosts were already reeling at 50/5 and dismissed Asif Khan (2) to further reduce them to 51/6 at the end of 11 overs. In the 13th over, Dube picked up two wickets of Dhruv Parashar and Junaid Siddique to register figures of 3/4 at an economy rate of 2 in 2 overs

Shivam Dube’s contribution with the ball reduced the burden on Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya in India’s pace attack, allowing them to bowl shorter spells while maintaining the pressure on the UAE batting line-up.

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4. Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill go berserk

Though a 58-run chase was easy to achieve, irrespective of how India were going to chase it down, openers Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill went berserk, with the former starting the innings with a six and four in the first two balls of the opening over. Sharma and Gill stitched an unbeaten 48-run stand for the opening wicket, powering India to victory in just 4.3 overs.

In just two overs, India reached 25/0 and then posted a total of 38/0 in three overs, cruising to a nine-wicket win with 93 balls to spare, marking their largest T20I victory by balls remaining. Suryakumar Yadav chipped in with a six before Gill completed the chase with a boundary.

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5. India gear up for Pakistan clash

With a dominant win over the UAE, Team India will enter the clash against Pakistan brimming with confidence. The high-voltage clash will take place on September 14 at the Dubai International Stadium. Given the performance by the Men in Blue with bat and ball, India will be looking to carry their momentum into the high-stakes encounter and assert their dominance over arch-rivals in this crucial Asia Cup clash.

Though playing Pakistan will be different from playing against the UAE, India can take positives from their tournament opener, including Kuldeep Yadav’s lethal and explosive start from Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, which should boost confidence ahead of the big clash.