Hello and welcome to the LIVE coverage from Match 21 of the World Cup between India and UAE in Perth. Scorecard
Teams:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav
United Arab Emirates: Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Krishnachandran Karate, Khurram Khan, Swapnil Patil(w), Shaiman Anwar, Rohan Mustafa, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Tauqir(c), Manjula Guruge
Toss and team news: UAE won the toss and have opted to bat. For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar makes a comeback in place of an injured Mohammad Shami, while UAE field an unchanged side.
Pitch Report: “This is one of the fastest pitches in the world. It’s very hard and the fast bowlers will have a big smile on their faces. The ball comes on to the bat, because of its true bounce, so it is good for batting as well. As a batsman, the key word here is if you get through the first 20 balls, you can score runs. India are just starting to show some form. I would be certainly selecting a pure bowler, I wouldn’t go for an all-rounder in Stuart Binny. Bat first and get runs on the board.” reckon Sanjay Manjrekar and Tom Moody.
Preview: The below-par performance in the tri-series involving Australia and England had snatched the favourites tag away from India going in to the World Cup. However, back-to-back wins against two top sides have put the defending champions right at the top of Pool B and back in contention. Having comprehensively defeated arch-rivals Pakistan and title contenders South Africa, India take on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the WACA in their third encounter of the quadrennial event.
It will be unwise to take the UAE lightly as vice-captain Virat Kohli said, following the South Africa match, that at the end of the day it will be 11 men against 11 men with the same weapons – bat and ball. India will come down hard at the non-Test playing side to further signal their intent in the World Cup. Another win will easily put them well on course for the quarter-finals.
India’s batting looks good with Kohli and opener Shikhar Dhawan scoring centuries in the first two games while middle-order batsmen Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane have also been amongst runs. The one small concern for captainMahendra Singh Dhoni would be their finish. Though India batted brilliantly against both Pakistan and the Proteas, they failed to capitalise in the death overs, losing wickets and not scoring as many runs as expected after formidable starts.
Both spinners and pacers have come good in the two matches, with pacer Mohammed Shami picking up a four-wicket haul against Pakistan. However, Shami has been ruled out of the match with a knee problem.
On the other hand, the UAE, playing their second World Cup, have lost both their matches against Zimbabwe and Ireland. Though their bowling is well below par the international standards and it will be difficult to contain India, their batting has been quite impressive, particularly Shaiman Anwar. The Sialkot-born Anwar scored a solid 67 and a scintillating 106 against Zimbabwe and Ireland, respectively, to help his team put up strong totals on the board. However, a weak bowling line-up and even weaker fielding led the expat-filled UAE team to lose the games.
UAE, a team full of people born in the Indian subcontinent, will be looking to gain experience and will have nothing to lose against the defending champions, while India may try a few other combinations before they take on stronger teams.
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World Cup 2015 Live Score: India vs UAE, Match 21
