India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel showered praise on the team’s bowlers after they registered a thumping nine-wicket win against the UAE in the Asia Cup. After electing to bowl first, India skittled out UAE for a paltry score of 57 runs.

Kuldeep Yadav returned with figures of 4-7 in 2.1 overs he bowled against the hosts. Yadav accounted for UAE captain Muhammad Wasim, Rahul Chopra, Harshit Kaushik, and Haider Ali. Thus, Kuldeep was awarded Player of the Match. 

Furthermore, Shivam Dube bagged three wickets for four runs in the two overs he bowled. UAE openers added 26 runs for the opening alliance but the team crumbled like a pack of cards after a decent start. Barring their openers, none of the UAE batters could not even score more than five runs.

In a video posted by BCCI on social media, Morkel said, “Yeah, a very solid start by the boys with the ball tonight. We haven’t played a lot of wide-ball cricket for a while, so I thought that leading into the game, our preparation was very focused. I think that is one thing that we did exceptionally well.”

“I think that is our conversation going into the game, was to find our feet, put a lot of energy, bring a bit of body language, when we have the ball in our hands, and yeah, we nailed the first half,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav surpassed former frontline spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s T20I wickets tally after his impressive four-wicket haul. Yadav has now taken 73 wickets in 41 T20Is at an average of 13.39. 

India will next take on arch-rivals Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, on Sunday.