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Dhaka:: India crushed a hapless UAE by nine wickets to maintain their unbeaten run, recording their fourth consecutive win of the tournament at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur on Thursday.
Chasing a paltry 82, India lost the wicket of opener Rohit Sharma (39) before gunning down the target in 10.1 overs to top the table with eight points ahead of Bangladesh at second.
Rohit scored a breezy 28-ball 39 that included seven boundaries and a six before being caught off a loose Qadeer Ahmed delivery. His departure resulted in a promotion for Yuvraj Singh who, batting at no. 3 scored a 14-ball 25 to steer the chase. Shikhar Dhawan looked off-color in his innings of 16 though.
Earlier, a combined bowling effort and a sorry batting display restricted UAE to 81/9.
Having sealed their final berth, India made three changes to their playing XI, handing debut to left-arm spinner Pawan Negi apart from including Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harbhajan Singh.
Bhuvneshwar, who last played for India in January this year, opened with a maiden and followed that with another one that included the wicket of opener Swapnil Patil for 1. Jasprit Bumrah, his new-ball partner, chimed in to make the second strike with the wicket of Mohammad Shahzad for a duck in the next over.
The contest between the top-ranked India and UAE, 16th in T20I rankings, was a complete mismatch of sorts. Four out of the first 10 overs bowled by India were maiden in which they picked three wickets for 32.
Negi picked his first international wicket in his first over, removing Muhammad Usman (9) in the 13th over. Harbhajan reduced them to 52/4 in the next. Their pedestrian batting performance continued as they could only manage 49 in their final 10 overs at the loss of another six wickets.
India captain Dhoni used six bowlers in total, five of them picked a wicket each while the effort was topped by Bhuvneshwar who finished with 2 for 8 in his four overs - two of them being maiden.
The UAE batsmen, barring Shaiman Anwar, struggled against the Indian bowlers. Anwar, who came to bat at no. 4, scored 43 with the help of three fours and a six.
Brief scores
United Arab Emirates - 81 for 9 (Anwar 43, Kumar 2-8)
India - 82 for 1 (Rohit 39, Yuvraj 25*)
Result - India won by 9 wickets
Points - India 2, United Arab Emirates 0
