India v United Arab Emirates Preview, Match 21, Perth

For UAE to rub shoulders with India on an equal footing on a surface that India’s pacers should relish more than the opposition, it will need for the top order to support Shaiman more effectively. Pretty 30s will not do, nor will wickets falling in a heap and forcing Shaiman to shore up the lower order while at the same time doing the bulk of the scoring, and reasonably quickly at that. Amjad Ali, the opener, and Khurram Khan, the former skipper and UAE’s only other ODI centurion, must bat longer, while the India-born duo of Krishna Chandran and Swapnil Patil both have a great opportunity to make a name for themselves against players that are at once their countrymen and their heroes.

Where UAE might find the going particularly tough is in its bowling. Manjula Guruge, the left-arm seamer, has been accurate and Mohammad Tauqir, the captain, reasonably tidy with his offspin. But the rest of the group have tended to go for a few. UAE must find ways of taking wickets – the best way to staunch the flow of runs -- if it is to seriously trouble a line-up coming off scores of 300 and 307 in its last two hits.

Teams (from):

**India:**Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Axar Patel, Ambati Rayudu.

**UAE:**Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Krishna Chandran, Khurram Khan, Swapnil Patil (wk), Shaiman Anwar, Rohan Mustafa, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Tauqir (capt), Manjula Guruge, Fahad Alhashmi, Kamran Shazad, Nasir Aziz, Saqlain Haider.