A bizarre incident unfolded during the India vs UAE Asia Cup match on Wednesday when batter Junaid Siddique got a respite after getting stumped out when India and captain Suryakumar Yadav withdrew the appeal as a mark of sportsmanship.
The incident happened in the 3rd ball of the 13th over when Shivam Dube was steaming in to bowl. Before he had released the ball, a towel which was stuffed in his back pocket, fell out. Siddique slashed at the incoming delivery but missed as the ball was collected by Sanju Samson behind the stumps.
However, Siddique was still out of the crease, pointing at the towel and forgot to back up into the crease. This gave Samson the opportunity to stump him with the third umpire giving it out after an appeal. But captain Suryakumar Yadav in good spirit said to the on-field umpire that they are withdrawing the appeal.
Siddique, however, lasted just one ball more as he fell for zero in the same over when he was caught by Surya off Dube.
Kuldeep Yadav didn’t show any signs of rustiness while running through a clueless UAE batting line-up as India dismissed the home team for a paltry 57 in 13.1 overs in their Asia Cup opener here on Wednesday.
Kuldeep, who had a frustrating time in the UK after warming the bench for five straight Tests, was too skillful for the UAE batters to comprehend, ending with figures of 4 for 7 in 2.1 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah (1/19 in 3 overs) started the slide with a perfect yorker to remove Kerala born Alishan Sharafu (22 off 17 balls), who had till then survived audaciously with three boundaries and a six.
Once Bumrah landed a perfect one at the base of Sharafu’s boots, UAE’s promising start turned into a sorry tale with batters making a beeline back to the dug-out.
The troika of spinners — Kuldeep, Varun Chakravarthy (1/4 in 2 overs) and Axar Patel (1/13 in 3 overs) are bowlers whom the players from associate nations don’t play regularly and UAE had no clue how to counter them. Shivam Dube (3/4 in 2 overs), whose bowling is going to be important heading into T20 World Cup, helped himself with career-best figures, polishing off the tail in style.
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