India started their title defense in the Asia Cup 2025 with a dominating performance as they faced United Arab Emirates on Thursday in Dubai. They blew the hosts away, and it was one of the shortest matches ever, which was completed in 17.4 overs. It was a complete dominance from the Indian bowling attack.
They bowled out UAE for just 57 runs, which is the lowest total against India by any team in T20 international. Kuldeep Yadav, who was playing a T20I match since the T20 World Cup 2024 final, bagged a spell of 4/7 to win the Player of the Match award.
Part-time Shivam Dube also registered his career-best of 3/4. India took the last 8 UAE wickets for just ten runs. It was just a formality left for the Indian batters after that. They just took 4.3 overs to complete the chase and registered their fastest ever T20I chase, in terms of balls taken.
Abhishek Sharma achieved a special feat with the first-ball six vs UAE
The target of 58 runs was never challenging for India, and it was expected that Indian batters would come out and start hitting from the very first ball. And it eventually happended as the first ball of the chase was deposited for a six over long off by Abhishek Sharma off Haider Ali.
ABHISHEK SHARMA – HIT THE FIRST BALL OF THE INNINGS FOR A SIX. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/4sWr6hOLl0
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) September 10, 2025
It was followed with a powerful slap through the off-side for a boundary, collecting ten of the first two balls. With this, Abhishek became only the fourth Indian batter to hit the first ball of the innings for a six. Before the left-hander, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Sanju Samson have achieved this little landmark.
Abhishek, who is also the no. 1 ranked T20I batter, played a cameo and scored 30 off just 16 balls, with two fours and three sixes, at a strike rate of 187.50. Shubman Gill scored an unbeaten 20 off 9, with two fours and one six, and captain Suryakumar Yadav scored a 2-ball 7 to end the game. India will now be up against archrival Pakistan in the next game on Sunday at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
