Perth: Having demolished Pakistan and South Africa in their first two matches by dishing out clinical performances, defending champions India would look to complete a hat-trick of victories when they take on minnows United Arab Emirates in their third group league match of the cricket World Cup on Saturday. Mohammad Tauqir won the toss and made the easy decision of batting first on what looks to be a good wicket at the WACA for batsmen to exploit.
On the field as well as on paper, UAE stand no chance against the world champions who have simply outplayed Pakistan and South Africa in their 76 and 130 run victories respectively. The Indian batting unit has performed admirably well while the bowlers’ performance has surpassed everyone’s expectation in the first two matches. India though will be without the services of pacer Mohammed Shami due to a knee injury, but that is unlikely to make much difference in their bowling show against the UAE. Bhuvneshwar Kumar replaces him and will look to seal his place in the side leading the pace attack for the Men in Blue.
The match against UAE will give them a chance to record another big win and enhance the net run-rate in case they face a hiccup against the West Indies or Ireland in the later group stages of the tournament.
While Virat Kohli, with a century and 46, is back in touch, Shikhar Dhawan has been in blazing form with a half-century against Pakistan followed by a brilliant career-best ton against South Africa. Ajinkya Rahane and Suresh Raina have also made their fair share of contribution. With four of the top six batsmen in form, it could be ominous signs for an extremely inexperienced UAE bowling attack, whose collective experience is less than 30 matches.
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With the campaign for title defence firmly on track, it will be consolidation time against the UAE as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men are focused on getting the top spot in Group B, which would enable them play the fourth-placed team of Group A in the quarter-finals. UAE won the toss and Mohammed Tauqir elects to bat first.
