Indian batsman Rohit Sharma plays a shot during their Asia Cup Twenty20 match against UAE at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
India warmed up for the Asia Cup final against Bangladesh with a crushing nine-wicket win over minnows UAE in their last league match in Dhaka on Thursday.
A disciplined Indian attack restricted UAE to a meagre 81-9 before they reached 82-1 in just 10.1 overs to complete the win, their fourth in as many matches in the tournament.
Opener Rohit Sharma made highest 39 runs with 28 balls hitting seven fours and a six while Yuvraj Singh made good use of his promotion in one-down position with an unbeaten 25.
Rohit put 43 runs in the opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan before he was caught by Mohammad Naveed of Qadeer Ahmed in third man area in what turned out to be UAE’s only success in the game.
Dhawan, who could score just three runs in his previous two matches in the tournament, carefully protected his wicket to remain 16 not out.
Earlier, Shaiman Anwar scored highest 43 runs for UAE before he was the last man dismissed.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed 2-8 playing his first match in the series while all other bowlers used by Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was rewarded with a wicket.
India rested Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ashish Nehra ahead of their March 6 final and brought in uncapped Pawan Negi, Harbhajan Singh and Bhuvneshwar.
Qualifiers UAE will leave the tournament with their heads high as they played some good cricket throughout the campaign despite losing their all four matches.
The league phase of the tournament will end with Pakistan facing Sri Lanka today.
Source: New Age