India made three changes to their playing eleven – Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ashish Nehra made way for Twenty20 International debutant Pawan Negi (who hasn’t represented India in any format since), Harbhajan Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
This was
the first – and, so far, only – time they played the United Arab Emirates in
the shortest format.
On winning
the toss, Amjad Javed, the UAE’s skipper, chose to bat.
The
Powerplay of the UAE’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was
between the first and the sixth over. They scored 21, and lost a couple of wickets.
Swapnil Patil,
who faced nine balls, scored a run. Sixteen balls into the match, he was caught
by Kumar, who broke the one-run stand.
Mohammad
Shahzad, who faced four balls, didn’t get off the mark. Five balls later, he was
caught by Suresh Raina. Jasprit Bumrah broke the one-run stand.
Rohan
Mustafa, whose 22-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 11.
Thirty-one balls later, he was caught by Virat Kohli. Hardik Pandya broke the
23-run stand.
The UAE
scored 50 off 12.4 overs (76 balls). India had conceded five extras at that
point.
Muhammad
Usman, whose nine-ball innings included a boundary, scored a dozen. Twenty-five
balls later, he was caught by Harbhajan. Negi broke the 26-run stand.
Javed, who
faced a ball, didn’t get off the mark. Three balls later, he was caught by
Negi. Harbhajan broke the two-run stand.
Muhammad
Kaleem, who faced 10 balls, scored just a couple. Fifteen balls later, he was
caught by Pandya. Yuvraj Singh broke the nine-run stand.
The
seventh-wicket pair put on four. Fahad Tariq, who faced five balls, scored
three. Seven balls later, Negi and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s skipper, ran
him out.
Mohammad
Naveed had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he scored five. Fourteen balls
later, he was caught by Negi. Kumar broke the run-a-ball stand.
The
ninth-wicket pair put on a run. Shaiman Anwar, whose 48-ball innings included
three boundaries and a six, scored 43. Three balls later, Dhoni ran him out.
Ahmed Raza,
who faced a ball, didn’t get off the mark. He was unbeaten, as was Qadeer
Ahmed, who faced a ball, failing to open his account.
The number
of extras they eventually conceded gave India no reason to be in seventh
heaven. The UAE scored 81 for the loss of nine wickets off 20 overs.
Yuvraj, who
bowled a couple of overs, conceded 10. He picked up a wicket. Negi and Pandya
bowled three overs each, picking up a wicket apiece. While the former conceded
16, the latter, whose spell included a maiden, conceded 11.
Bumrah and
Harbhajan bowled four overs each, picking up a wicket. While the former
conceded 23, the latter, whose spell included a maiden, conceded 11. Kumar
bowled four overs, including a couple of maidens. He conceded eight, picking up
a couple of scalps.
The
Powerplay of India’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between
the first and the sixth over. They scored 43, and lost a wicket.
Rohit the
player of the (Shar)match, scored 39. His 28-ball innings included seven
boundaries and a six. Thirty-five balls into the chase, he was caught by
Naveed. Qadeer broke the 43-run stand.
India scored
50 off 7.1 overs (44 balls). India had conceded a couple of extras at that
point. That was, incidentally, the number of extras they eventually conceded.
Shikhar
Dhawan, whose 20-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 16. He was
unbeaten, as was Yuvraj, who scored 25. His 14-ball innings included four
boundaries and a six.
India, who
scored 82 for the loss of a wicket off 10.1 overs, won by nine wickets with 59
balls to spare.
Mustafa,
who bowled a wicketless over, conceded half-a-dozen. Shahzad, who bowled seven
wicketless balls, scored 14. Javed, who bowled two wicketless overs, conceded
18. Naveed, who bowled four wicketless overs, conceded 21. Ahmed, who bowled two
overs, conceded 23. He picked up the only wicket to fall.
India, who
were unbeaten, advanced to the final.
