World Cup 2015, India vs UAE: With plenty to spare

This 50-50 overs game at WACA, that actually lasted just 50.2 overs, showed that UAE lacked the application, temperament or skill needed to play competitive international cricket.

The fall of the day’s first two UAE wickets proved this point. Amjad Ali and Andri Berenger are modest batsmen with limited experience.

Had they known a bit of cricket history, they would have known that they were on a pitch with a reputation of bounce and carry. Had they been watching cricket on television, they would know they were facing a pace attack that has troubled batsmen of the calibre of Younis Khan and Hashim Amla with the rising ball. Oblivious to these facts, very early in their innings they used the horizontal bat to negotiate the rising ball. Aiming to send the ball over the fence, their mishits didn’t clear the 30 yards circle.

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Clueless

You thought they would deal with the spinner better. Actually, they were worse. They didn’t seem to know that R Ashwin, besides having the stock off-spinner, also has carom ball.

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They seem to be reading the ball off the wicket and not from the hand of the bowler. Coming to the crease with that basic flaw, Ashwin was unplayable. They would go feeling for each of his variation and invariably end up edging the ball. Krishna Chandra and Swapnil Patil were both caught by close in fielders as they remained clueless about the turn.

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The next man in was Khurram Khan, said to be the most accomplished batsmen from the associate nations. He would bank on a conventional method of playing spin. Khan brought to crease the sweep shot but it proved a difficult shot to pull off today, considering the bounce Ashwin got from the pitch. Plus Khan didn’t judge the length right to play the stroke. He top-edged the ball and Raina had enough time to run from slip to leg-slip to take a catch.

Offence, defence, offence

At 44/5, UAE had given up. After going from offence to defence, they now once again switched to offence. They tried to hit Ravindra Jadeja out of the attack but ended up giving him two wickets. The idea of batting out the 50 overs, something that most associate nations do against Test teams, didn’t occur to them. In the stands UAE would be the butt of jokes. “They would get a bonus from WACA as they had saved them the cost of switching on the floodlights,” someone said. “They have misunderstood the meaning of 50 overs cricket,” said another.

As they laughed in the stands, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan would walk out. Finally, the thousands of Indian fans would get to see quality batting. He would pull with the precise transfer of weight and delicate roll of wrist and the perfect head position. There would also be the Sharma-special cover-drive — the one which tempts the Gods to drop flowers from above.

After a freak catch at point that dismissed Dhawan, Virat Kohli would join Sharma and there would be more quality strokes. For those among the UAE batsmen who thought Sharma’s strokes were too risky to pull off, Kohli gave an exhibition of percentage play. Eyes on the ball, a controlled flick of the wrists was all it took to send the ball racing to the fence. The UAE ordeal would end soon. As the players walked off the field, you almost expected the UAE players to accost the Indian batsmen to the nets and beg for extra class.