Both UAE openers fell to well-directed bouncers from Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Umesh Yadav drew the first blood, when Andri Berenger tried to lift him off a bouncer and only managed a top edge that Dhoni gleefully held. Amjad Ali was next after attempting another hook shot, this time to a bouncer from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he also gloved a catch to Dhoni. It was an inauspicious start for UAE and at 28/2, Dhoni introduced Ravichandran Ashwin into the attack. Ashwin proved too good for the UAE batsmen as he began by taking the wicket of Krishna Chandra with his second ball. Krishna Chandra tried to flick Ashwin on the leg side and only succeeded in gloving a catch to Raina stationed at leg-slip for this very purpose. Four overs later, Ashwin got his second wicket, when Swapnil Patil edged a catch to Dhawan at first slip. UAE’s score became 44/5 in the 17th over, when their best batsman Khurram Khan also succumbed to Ashwin’s guile. From this point onwards, the batting was left to Shaiman Anwar and his partnerships with the tail-enders. He did come up with some hefty blows but he couldn’t have lasted too long. However, UAE should consider themselves lucky to have Anwar since his 35 runs were vital to take them past 100. Finally Anwar too fell in the 32nd over, when Umesh Yadav’s express delivery uprooted his stumps. With Anwar’s wicket, UAE innings folded at 102.
India came on to play for one hour before the break and began the 103-run chase with patience rather than exploding with the bat right away. The first 4 overs could only produce 10 runs and India lost Shikhar Dhawan in the 7th. But after the break, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli played an uneventful innings without any adventurous indulgence. Sharma scored more briskly than Kohli and remained unbeaten on a 55-ball 57 that included 10 fours and a six. Kohli played a supportive role for a patient 33 off 41 balls and India routinely got past the target with 31.1 overs still remaining.
It was the third successive win for India this World Cup and their next match is against the West Indies on March 6. In the end, India missed out on surpassing their biggest World Cup c win. They had beaten Kenya in 2001 with 231 balls remaining. Nevertheless, the victory against UAE proved to be the second-biggest overall.