Seamers Rudra Pratap Singh and Vikram Rajvir Singh produced a sensational new ball spell to blast out United Arab Emirates for a paltry 70 and give India 'A' a 126-run victory in the EurAsia Series limited-overs cricket tournament in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night.
After a stuttering batting performance that realized 196 runs, the Indians hit back to shut out the hosts in only 15.1 overs in the Group 'C' second league phase clash at the Sheikh Zayed stadium.
R P Singh returned figures of 5 for 30 while VRV Singh bagged 5 for 38, only three UAE batsmen reaching double figures.
In fact, 18 extras, including five no balls and 11 wides, were the highest entry in the UAE batting card.
However, the man of the match for India 'A' was wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Kaarthick, whose top score of 75 was crucial to the team reaching a respectable total.
Kaarthick had support from Rohit Sharma, who scored a composed 56.
The duo added 123 runs for the fourth wicket to lift the team from a sorry 20 for three.
"Rohit batted really well. He rotated the strike and came up with some boundaries that eased the pressure a bit," Kaarthick said of his teammate.
The Tamil Nadu player credited the victory to the bowlers.
"Honestly, I did not expect it (the man of the match award). RP and VRV bowled really well," Kaarthick said.
"The bowlers have been fantastic right through the tournament. The win against Pakistan the other day was thanks to them."
The lower order, however, failed to consolidate the good work by Kaarthick and Sharma.
The last seven wickets fell for 56 runs as India 'A' declined from a healthy 143 for four.
The Indians first struggle to cope with the gentle medium swing of Ali Asad to lose their top order cheaply.
Asad did the early damage picking three for 30 in an unchanged opening spell.
Zahid Shah was the other useful bowler claiming two for 34 while Khurram Khan picked two lower wickets.
India had a disastrous start, losing Robin Uthappa (2), Shikhar Dhawan (1) and captain Venugopala Rao (7) -- all three to Asad -- inside the first 10 overs with only for 20.
Kaarthick and Sharma then batted sensibly to see through the middle overs without any further damage.
The former faced 87 balls and hit five fours and two sixes while the latter's innings consumed 68 balls and was aided by four boundaries.
India 'A' next face Ireland on May 2.
Scorecard
India 'A':
R Uthappa c Arshad Ali b Ali Asad 2
S Dhawan c Abdul Rehman b Ali Asad 1
Y V Rao c Abdul Rehman b Ali Asad 7
D Kaarthick c Aslam b Zahid Shah 75
R Sharma c Rehman b Zahid Shah 56
A Jhunjhunwala c Rehman b Arshad Ali 12
A Jadeja st Abdul Rehman b Khurram Khan 16
P Chawla run out (Saqib Ali) 10
V R V Singh c Javed b Mohammad Tauqir 4
R P Singh not out 3
S S Paul lbw b Khurram Khan 0
Extras: (lb 1, w 8, nb 1) 10
Total: (all out, 46.5 overs) 196
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-20, 4-143, 5-152, 6-169, 7-182, 8-189, 9-196.
Bowling: Ali Asad 10-3-30-3, Zahid Shah 10-0-34-2, Ahmed Raza 5-0-24-0, Mohammad Tauqir 10-0-40-1, Khurram Khan 2.5-0-23-2, Arshad Ali 9-0-44-1.
UAE:
Amjad Javed b RP Singh 4
Arshad Ali b VR Singh 1
Abdul Rehman lbw b RP Singh 0
Saqib Ali c Karthik b VR Singh 10
Khurram Khan c Uthappa b RP Singh 0
Naeemuddin Aslam c Sharma b VR Singh 0
Fahad Usman c Jhunjhunwala b RP Singh 12
Mohammad Tauqir not out 7
Ali Asad lbw b RP Singh 0
Zahid Shah b VR Singh 1
Ahmed Raza lbw b VR Singh 17
Extras: (lb 2, w 11, nb 5) 18
Total: (all out, 15.1 overs) 70
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-5, 3-15, 4-19, 5-22, 6-40, 7-50, 8-50, 9-51.
Bowling: Rudra Pratap Singh 8-1-30-5, Vikram Rajvir Singh 7.1-0-38-5.
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