Kuldeep Yadav returned figures of 4-7 to lead holders India to a crushing nine-wicket win over hosts United Arab Emirates in their opening match of the men’s Asia Cup 2025 on Wednesday.

Kuldeep struck three times in one over with his left-arm wrist spin as tournament favourites India skittled UAE for a paltry 57 in 13.1 overs after they elected to field first in the T20 in Dubai.

India romped home to victory in 4.3 overs after left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma hit 30 off 16 balls and vice-captain Shubman Gill stood unbeaten on 20.

But it was the bowlers who set up victory for the reigning T20 World Cup champions as medium-pacer Shivam Dube claimed three before Kuldeep wrapped up the innings.

Put in to bat, UAE opener Alishan Sharafu started briskly with boundaries before falling to pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah for 22 off 17 balls.

Skipper Muhammad Waseem struck 19 to be the only other batsman to make double figures in an otherwise shambolic show by the rest of the team.

Kuldeep’s three wickets, including Waseem, in his second over, rattled the opposition batting which soon fell apart.

In reply, Sharma came out attacking as he smashed left-arm spinner Haider Ali for a six and a four.

He hit two more sixes in his blitz before being caught out off pace bowler Junaid Siddique.

Gill finished off the chase with a boundary as skipper Suryakumar Yadav, unbeaten on seven, looked on from the other end.

India won the previous Asia Cup, which was played in a 50-over format in 2023, when they beat hosts Sri Lanka in the final in Colombo.

The 17th edition of the Asia Cup kicked off with the Group ‘B’ match between Afghanistan and Hong Kong, where Azmatullah Omarzai hammered a 20-ball fifty as his team beat Hong Kong by 94 runs in the opening match on Tuesday.

Pakistan and India meet on September 14 in the most-awaited match of the T20 tournament, which serves as a build-up for next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

The tournament trophy was also unveiled by ACC President Mohsin Naqvi at a ceremony with team captains ahead of the tournament’s first encounter between Afghanistan and Hong Kong.

Teams:

India: Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and Jasprit Bumrah.

UAE: Muhammad Zohaib, Muhammad Waseem (capt), Asif Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Rahul Chopra (wk), Dhruv Parashar, Harshit Kaushik, Haider Ali, Muhammad Rohid, Junaid Siddique, and Simranjeet Singh.