Travelling a roaring come-back to the Indian team, Kuldeep Yadav set the Asia Cup 2025 opener against the United Arab Emirates alight with a blistering spell on Wednesday. Having begun with a neat first over that cost just four runs, the 30-year-old left-arm spinner flipped the game on its head in his second over.
In the 9th over of UAE's innings, Kuldeep was on song, hitting three times to destroy the batting rhythm of the hosts. He dismissed Rahul Chopra with the first ball, before catching skipper Muhammad Waseem plumb in front on the fourth. To finish an out-of-the-world over, he fired in a guileful googly that left Harshit Kaushik bamboozled, knocking back his stumps. From 50/2, UAE collapsed dramatically to 50/5, facing collapse. Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy had previously contributed a wicket each.
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Earlier in the night at the Dubai International Stadium, India captain Suryakumar Yadav decided to bowl first having won the toss. The world championship holders put an end to days of speculation by including Sanju Samson and Shubman Gill in the XI. While Gill slotted in to his typical opening position, Samson was demoted to No. 5, a spot quite foreign to him in T20Is at the expense of Jitesh Sharma.
In the bowling department, the selectors opted for Kuldeep over Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, relying on the spin-friendly nature of the Dubai conditions. With Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, and Bumrah spearheading the pace attack, the decision was rewarded in the very first match with Kuldeep delivering a match-winning spell.