At Perth, UAE no match for India

Rohit Mahajan in Perth

The Indian players felt inadequately exercised by United Arab Emirates today. The game lasted just 50.2 overs. Yet, well into the late evening, the Indian players were still at the ground, playing football. Hundreds of Indian supporters didn’t leave — they got to see two sports for the price of one.

The first game was a huge mismatch. The hope that UAE would put up a fight —they’d posted two scores in excess of 270 in their first two matches — remained unfulfilled. They crumbled in the heat of the WACA ground, which wore a carnival look due to the colours and the sounds of Indian fans. The odds were stacked against UAE. They were playing against well-trained professionals, on a wicket that was hard and quick. They’d never played a top team at this ground before today. They struggled against the pace and bounce of the fast bowlers, and the turn and tricks of the spinners. All five bowlers used — three seamers, two spinners — took wickets. Ravichandran Aswhin ended up with 4/25 off his 10 overs. He spun the ball and he seamed the ball — the men from UAE seemed clueless against him. They couldn’t handle the bouncer of Bhuvneshwar and Umesh Yadav. They couldn’t understand the mystery of the swing of Yadav or the pace of Mohit Sharma or the spin of Ravindra Jadeja. A score of 102 in 31.2 overs resulted.

India started the chase over an hour before the scheduled break for supper. A target of 103 is not something that could challenge the Indians — they got home in 18.5 overs, Rohit Sharma hitting 57 off 55 deliveries. Forty-six of his runs came off boundaries. India galloped away, leaving UAE a mile behind.

This wasn’t a commanding show at start, making only 10 off the first four overs. Nothing extraordinary was called for, and nothing extraordinary was witnessed.

The one sparkling moment for UAE came when Shikhar Dhawan sliced Mohammed Naveed in the air near backward point. Rohan Mustafa, without visible effort, got to the ball, stretched his right arm up and to his right, and the ball clung to his hand. Dhawan, hero of India’s win over South Africa in Melbourne, was brought back to earth. A knock of 14 off 17 balls is not exactly what he’d expected today. Rohit and Virat Kohli (33, five fours) saw India right to the end.

ICC’s tough love

UAE is one of the recipients of the ICC’s tough love — ICC wants to take cricket all across the world, but no one wants to play teams like UAE. It’s a bunch of amateurs, mostly small-time workers who have come to the UAE from Pakistan, India etc to improve their lives.

The captain, Mohammad Tauqir, is Emirati. He’s 43 and he’s playing cricket against tough and highly-trained professionals from India. The team doesn’t get to play the big teams outside the World Cup. This is their first World Cup after 1996. They’re caught in a vicious cycle of mediocrity. They can improve only if they play the big teams; they qualify for the World Cup and get walloped, and it’s back to the wilderness. It’s back to their small jobs of a clerk or receptionist. The cruellest bit is this — the ICC doesn’t want the minor nations in its World Cup.

The fans enjoyed themselves at the game; there were some good shots played, and some horrible shots played. A World Cup will have mismatches — reducing it to just a contest among the top-10 nations, as is proposed, will make it something like a minor Cup. It would be a cynical, blatant exercise of money-making. The World Cup must have room for the amateurs from UAE. “I think the more we play against these bigger nations, the more we learn and the more we perform,” said Tauqir later. “And I think that that fear or that thinking of a bigger team would not be there, you know. I think the more we play, the better for the associate nations.”

Does he hope he’d play teams like India more often? “Well, that's not for me to reply. That's for the authorities to organize or arrange these more games with us,” he said. Clearly, he’s not hopeful. Which is a pity, because the World Cup needs teams like UAE, even if it causes mismatches with big teams.

187 Margin of win in this match for India in terms of balls remaining - their second biggest in ODIs

1991 last time a spinner took more wickets in an ODI at WACA. Ravi Shastri took 5/15 vs Australia in just 6.5 overs