‘He has some real talent’ – Fans react as captain Yash Dull’s century propels India A to beat UAE in Emerging Asia Cup 2023

India A kicked off their ACC Men’s Emerging Team Asia Cup 2023 campaign with a commanding 8-wicket win over UAE A on the back of captain Yash Dhull’s unbeaten century and Harshit Rana’s bowling heroics. Chasing a below-par total of 176, the Indian skipper smashed his maiden List-A hundred to help India cross the finish line in just 26.3 overs.

India won the toss and elected to field first and the decision proved to be correct as the bowlers put pressure on the UAE batting right from the start. Right-arm pacer Rana drew the first blood by dismissing UAE opener Jonathan Figy in the very first over of the innings. Aryansh Sharma and Ansh Tandon tried to build a second-wicket stand, but Rana broke the partnership by dismissing Tandon.

The Indian bowlers then grabbed a few quick wickets, with Akash Singh getting Lovepreet Singh and Manav Suthar dismissing Aryansh and Ali Naseer in the 12th and 14th overs, respectively. However, after that, the bowlers failed to pick up wickets in the middle overs despite not leaking runs. Ashwant Chidambaram and Mohammad Farazuddin played a Test knock and took the team from 66-5 in 13.5 overs to 146-6 in 44.2 overs.

Yash Dull-Nikin Jose’s 130+ partnership led India to victory with 23.3 overs to spare

Rana broke the frustrating partnership to claim his third wicket and finished with figures of 4/41 in 9 overs as UAE ended with 175 for 9 on the scoreboard after 50 overs. Although India were under no pressure in the run chase, they got off to a poor start as opener B Sai Sudarshan failed to add much to the scoreboard. Inside six over, the Men in Blue lost their other opener, Abhishek Sharma, as all-rounder Nasser trapped him in front of the stumps.

However, when India reeling at 41 for 2, Dhull and Nikin Jose carried the responsibility of completing the chase with not losing any further wickets. The captain finished undefeated on 108 runs off 84 balls, hitting 20 boundaries and a single six, while Jose added an unbeaten 41 off 53 balls, hitting five boundaries. India will face Nepal on Monday, July 17.

Here’s how fans reacted to Yash Dull’s innings, which helped India A win by 8 wickets: