UAE’s Asia Cup return lasted barely 99 balls. Bundled out for 57 and beaten by nine wickets, they left the Dubai afternoon knowing exactly where the gap with the region’s giants still sits.
“To be very honest, it wasn’t a turning track,” head coach Lalchand Rajput admitted. “It was a good wicket to bat on, but the skill level these bowlers have got, and especially the wristspinners, they will always turn on any type of wickets.”
The raw numbers say enough. Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy combined for 5-11 in just 4.1 overs. UAE’s openers Alishan Sharafu and Muhammad Waseem scored 41 of the 57 runs; the rest never quite picked length or spin. Kuldeep floated it, Varun skidded it, and the innings was gone.
Key facts done, now the context. This is UAE’s first Asia Cup appearance in four years, a staging post before next month’s T20 World Cup Asian qualifiers. They beat Bangladesh 2-1 at home recently, pushed Pakistan and Afghanistan during a tri-series, but Rajput conceded Wednesday felt like another level.
“For our batsmen, to be very honest, they were playing [against this quality of spin] for the first time,” he said. “They were overawed by India’s big names. We should have batted 20 overs. But nevertheless, I think this is a learning process for us.”
Broadcaster-turned-coach Aakash Chopra, watching on television, was blunt: “not enough is being done for the Associates between big tournaments for them to improve.” It is hardly a new argument, yet days like this keep it alive.
Rajput kept the immediate criticism measured. He reminded reporters that, during the recent tri-series, UAE “hardly got out to the spinners… It was just one spinner that we got out and that was Abrar [Ahmed] in the second game.” Even top-order players, he added, struggle when the ball is coming out of a wristspinner’s hand.
He also pushed back at suggestions the side’s short tour of Uganda – defeats included – had been a distraction. “It’s a process that we always carry forward. And we were really looking forward to the Asia Cup because we qualified after a long time… We beat other teams, but lost to Uganda.”
Where does that leave them? Another group match, a chance to patch up confidence, then the qualifier that really matters. A total in the region of 130-140 felt realistic on Wednesday, Rajput reckoned; his batters “weren’t patient enough to play out 20 overs”. Expect UAE to count balls, not reputations, next time out.
Learning curves can be steep. India’s spinners just reminded UAE how steep international cricket can be.
